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Elizabeth Berkley, Gina Gershon, Kyle MacLachlan, Robert Davi, Alan Rachins ... see more see more... , William Shockley , Paul Bates , Patrick Bristow , Lance Davis , Maria Diaz , Joan Foley , Alexander Folk , Irene Olga Lopez , Rick Marotta , Jack McGee , Bobbie Phillips , Glenn Plummer , Julie Pop , Al Ruscio , Kevin Stea , Greg Travis , Judette Warren , Melissa Williams , Jim Wise , Jason Yribar , Alexander Zale , Fernando Celis , Madison Clarke , Chris Tedesco , Patrick Seymour , Rena Riffel , Michelle Johnston , Gina Ravera , Lin Tucci , Dewey Weber , Jim Ishida , Lisa Boyle , Robert Dunn , Carrie Ann Inaba

"I'm gonna dance," Nomi Malone (Elizabeth Berkley) insists in the opening scene of Showgirls, and dance she does. In this quasi-update of All About Eve, Nomi is a drifter whose sole ambition is to hea... read more read more...dline the "Goddess" topless dance show at the Stardust in Las Vegas. Of course, even Nomi must pay her dues, and she does so at the Cheetah, grinding poles and lap dancing her way to a future. Fortunately, her roommate, Molly, works at the Stardust and invites Nomi to see the show, where she meets Crystal Conners (Gina Gershon, in the Bette Davis role), with whom she immediately forms a love/hate relationship. Nomi soon learns what she must do to get ahead, and the rest of the film documents her cat-like crawl up the showgirl ladder of success. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, (Robocop, Basic Instinct, The Fourth Man), Showgirls was conceived as the first big-budget "adult" film since 1977's Caligula, and the first such production to wear the NC-17 rating; its failure at the box-office discouraged further attempts at large-scale adult productions. ~ Dylan Wilcox, Rovi

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54,850 ratings

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42 critics

NC-17, 2 hr. 11 min.

Directed by: Paul Verhoeven

Release Date: September 22, 1995

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DVD Release Date: April 25, 2000

Stats: 3,558 reviews

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Showgirls Showgirls Showgirls Showgirls Showgirls Showgirls Showgirls Showgirls Cristal and Nomi Gina Gershon Showgirls Showgirls Elizabeth Berkley & Kyle McLachlan Kyle MacLachlan Kyle MacLachlan & Elizabeth Berkley Elizabeth Berkley & Gina Gershon Showgirls Showgirls
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Flixster Reviews (3,558)

  • fb729949618
    September 24, 2011
    fb729949618
    Boobs! That's about it.....crappy movie and horrible acting. The boobs got all 2 and a half stars. No boobs.......no stars.
  • ceWEBrity
    July 5, 2011
    ceWEBrity
    Bad things threaten us. The second we're unable to reconcile our personal worldview with something that doesn't fit into it, we immediately reject it as without merit. It's not this black and white with films, of course, but elementally we accept parts of movies that work for us ... read moreand discard the ones that don't. When Showgirls came out, just about everyone discarded that shit. Universally derided, it essentially killed Elizabeth Berkley's career and made her the laughingstock of a nation. Fifteen years later, we as film-watchers have the privilege of not belonging to that climate. We can watch Showgirls and not feel offended by its complete failures, but instead revel in them. In a word, this is 130 minutes of undiluted cinematic schadenfreude, a work of immense ambition that is almost too ridiculous to be believed.

    Watching movies in this manner is not to everyone's taste. Throwing on a DVD explicitly to laugh at it probably seems mean-spirited, especially when you consider Berkley's contributions. She has so obviously poured herself into this role in every aspect possible, and it is a complete travesty. Nomi Malone is a violently passionate young woman, a trait that manifests itself in her dancing, her ambitions, her sex - everything. Though it may not sound like it, she is an extremely difficult character to portray appropriately, and Berkley's across-the-board failure is what makes Showgirls the bewildering disaster that most recognize it as. Instead of evincing passion, Berkley mostly evinces flailing, and in the most laughable way possible. Her incredible commitment and energy, the offerings of a starry-eyed actress dying to prove herself, means that the performance is never boring; in a way, Berkley's story kind of parallels Nomi, except I don't think Berkley had to beat any famous rock stars up. Of course, it is because her efforts were so awful that Showgirls has earned its reputation. I'm just saying that without her, we absolutely would not have Showgirls, and we will never have another movie like it. Big kudos to her for not being afraid to fail.

    But what sort of universe is poor Elizabeth Berkley operating in? What kind of fucked-up movie could have given rise to the dolphin sex scene, or discussions about eating dog food, or the most conspicuous staircase push ever? Bizarre though this may sound, Showgirls is best assessed as a piece of magical realism, an anti-show business tale and a warning that history repeats itself. For the first hour or so, everything we see could conceivably happen, but what of the scene where Nomi delivers line for line the same speech Cristal does upon taking her place in the prestigious ("prestigious") Goddess show? The line is blurred with exceptional handsomeness. Seriously, this shit is a Gabriel Garcia Marquez book for the 21st century. And though I'm sure the messages are nothing new, the content being used to prop them up - the fully nude bodies of impressionable young actresses, most notably - are what make this film's warnings all the more cogent.

    Some might argue that Showgirls is misogynist, or depicts sex in an inherently negative light. I think this brings the film to the base of the eternally-raging content vs. intent debate, where sex is only seen as a negative because people treat it negatively. The film illustrates a culture that makes young women into a commodity, and does it without an ounce of subtext or implication. Despite its condemnatory treatment of that culture, it nonetheless hangs itself by its own noose. So yeah, Showgirls is probably misogynist, but was there any way to tell this tale that wouldn't have been? The fact that it alone permits us the context we need to recognize it as such makes it, at the very least, a worthwhile argumentative piece. And come on, this thing has been kicked enough as it is. No one considers it an attack on feminism because it's so damn ridiculous. Anyone who legitimately thought that this offered a healthy picture of female sexuality would be laughed into hiding.

    Anyway, Showgirls is not a movie to be intellectually legitimized (or is it?) It is a bold, incompetent, hilarious cinematic experiment and should be celebrated as the glorious pop trash it is. If you are capable of describing something as both awful and amazing in the same breath, then this will hit the spot like few other films. If you can't abide camp...don't even try.
  • groaningbitch
    June 11, 2011
    groaningbitch
    i'm a fervent admirer of camp when it's not done purposely while the director or the writer has something phenomenal in mind but it turns out into shits. but when their failures are gloriously marked, it would be EPIC FAIL! that would literally transcend a piece of excrement into... read more something AWESOME: CAMP, just like someone aspires to make a beautiful dive into the swimming pool with a smug look on his face, then you see him just drop into the water with puddles spraying all over others around the pool. then you start to laugh for his making a spectacular scene of his own follies. to be frank, would you be bored by it? no, sometimes epic fail is much more entertaining than seamless success since sometimes your life is just also an epic fail. you could walk off the set with a complacency on your face instead of weeping your way back home to your mama, right? (frankly, i might be the latter. ha. epic fail)...even if you're a piece of pathetic failure, then be a motherfucking phenomenal failure and let everyone just can't ignore your jaw-dropping mistake! (proud loser mindset)

    honestly all the heterosexual love-scenes in showgirls are contrived and absurd, in other words, humdrum, for blatantly trying hard to be sexy. the dialogues are childish, and i think the stupidest line would probably be "if you just quit on me like that, i won't have you back even you do give me a blowjob" (WTF?! are you just 13 who just learns this term and knows how to do it? so you have to flaunt about it?)..the only people who are friendly with leading woman, the lone drifter to vegas, are all african americans. (kinda obvious).

    how could i omit the sex scene of elizabeth berkley and kyle maclachlan by the swimming pool? ok, let's go for the first provocative lap-dance in the earlier scene. gina gershon plays a dominatrix lead-stripping-dancer (since they consider themselves high-class dancers who bare tits in expensive hotels instead of cheap strippers in lower bars), and she has elizabeth berkley paid to flash herself to please her boyfriend while she sits aside gazing at their intimate foreplay. she sits on his lap while she wriggles around doing moves like backflips as the man looks paralyzed with a limping orgasm. meanwhile the third party seems content simply by watching. now let's jump to the swimming pool scene, he is holding her waist over his chest, by the position, you could tell there's no way that his "thing" would be actually touching hers. but you feel embarrased because she acts like a maniac going insane for some virtual visceral orgasm as if tons of semen just flush toward her brain cells to fuck her head up. (gee, how she manages to come in such dramatic way? ha!) btw, i must say elizabeth berkley really has great "spinal muscles," and for a moment, i almost wish to see her doing backflip since her waist could magically bounce around in various difficult angles.

    on the contrary, all the intriguing love scenes are between the two women there, if i wanna adapt any clinical term to describe it. it would be a deliberate defferal of orgasm to feed on more sexual enticements. to put it into simple phrases: i choose not to fuck because i want to keep on coming when you're not around. (explicit enough?)...you could see the scenario happening again and again: gina gershon seduces elizabeth berkley then she pushes berkley off with some deragatory insults when the lips are about to touch, and there're no actual sex scenes between these two women but somehow the sexual tension is seething behind a lid of jealous rivalries and severe antagonism. gershon's character deliberately introduces this woman, who could substitute her, into the team, then she baits her, humuliates her, befriend her then estrange her...at last, when berkley's character pushes her off the stairs, she chooses not to turn her in and quietly tolerate that. (signs of affections)...then in the ending, they finally get to a deep kissing goodbye. perhaps sex is more fun to watch in full clothes without any backflip stuntsmanship. ha.

    btw, the conversation about two women sharing their experience of dog food is just so hilarious. how could anyone naturally flirt with lines like "how you like your tits to be?" "in my dress" "so do i!".
  • ajv2688
    June 7, 2011
    ajv2688
    On the surface, this movie seems to be a typical rise to stardom plot movie like All About Eve or something, but set in the 90s. Upon further research, I realized it was more than that. Verhoeven's other movies I've seen, like Robocop and Total Recall, use extremes in terms of ... read moretheir genre to satirize. Showgirls too is over the top when it comes to its sensuality and melodrama. Berkley's acting itself is over the top, which lead audiences to think her a bad actor. This movie has gained a cult status because of the bad acting and over the top-ness of it. At times I liked this movie, but at times I hated it, so I'll just say it's okay. It's almost so bad that it's good, but not quite.
  • flixsterman
    January 1, 2011
    flixsterman
    Two stars for the lap dance scene!
  • ythelastman89
    December 18, 2010
    ythelastman89
    It's no wonder why this movie has a reputation for being so trashy, it is. However, it's just so shamelessly presented and shown to the the viewer on such a grand scale that it's an unforgettable experience to say the least. This movie has more sexual tension, nudity and erotic f... read morelow than anything else in existence. It's essentially the most well constructed and best movie that borders on the film/porn border. Considering that it's Paul Verhoeven behind this erotic dancing epic, there's no surprise that it's chalk full of sarcastic dialogue and bizarre comedy. Elizabeth Berkley gives one of the most over the top performances I've ever seen in a movie. She is always walking around with eyes of fury. Kyle MacLachlan also plays what I might have to consider the ultimate slimeball performance. You have to hand it to Gina Gershon for playing such a convincing villain/seductress. While I can see why some may be offended by this, if you understand it properly it is a pretty amazing and one of a kind journey.
  • hobster1
    December 3, 2010
    hobster1
    It's difficult to describe the supreme level of ridiculousness that Showgirls attains as the perfect example of a movie that's so bad, it's good. A film so intent in presenting a behind the scenes exposé of a topless Las Vegas spectacle, it skips being titillating to becoming do... read morewnright ridiculous in its trashy exuberance. Actress Elizabeth Berkley's (apparently) serious performance as Nomi Malone is a towering achievement of bad acting. A character with an emotionally unpredictable personality, consumed in ambition to become a showgirl in Sin City. She amusingly gets offended when her superiors make inference she is merely a prostitute, despite consistently behaving in a manner far from pure. Nomi's frequent disrobing at the drop of a hat, involves nudity almost assaultive in nature, whether it be for work or her personal life. The drama revolves around the dance extravaganza "Goddess", a production with choreography bursting with pelvic thrusts and gymnastic poses. Gina Gershon is unforgettable as Cristal Connors, the diva and star of the production. As the new dancer in her show, Nomi's views Cristal with a mixture of jealously and admiration, a variation on All About Eve. But her depravity doesn't stop there. Later, Nomi and the entertainment director of the hotel share a moment of intimacy in a swimming pool that ranks among the most laughable sex scenes in cinematic history. Utterly reviled upon its release, and still pretty hated today, Showgirls has since entered the pantheon of cult movies now appreciated for the caricature it unwittingly achieves. Admittedly this picture is a train wreck, yet it manages to entertain. The quintessential guilty pleasure that is one of the most hilarious comedies ever made.
  • SirPant
    September 29, 2009
    SirPant
    Hilarious and extremely unsexy!
  • deano
    August 11, 2009
    deano
    Bloody hot, sexy and it makes me go... horny! I know this drama film is a majorly flop, but I like it. Every woman in the movie is a laughable caricature who advances, if at all, by deceiving other women and becoming a sexual object for men. The "heroine," Nomi (Elizabeth Berkley... read more), crosses every line, sells every shred of dignity, physically assaults her female competitors, sleeps with her boss (in the most over-the-top sex scene in cinematic history), gets her best friend raped... and at the end of the film, claims that she has gambled and won "herself."
    Berkley's first lead role in this movie does a very bad job at acting, but there is this charm she has in her erotic dance performance. Gina Gershon is the best bitch and also hot to me. Kyle MacLachlan looks like he stumbled off the set of Blue Velvet, but brought some of Dennis Hoppers sleaze along with him.
  • DragonEyeMorrison
    July 15, 2009
    DragonEyeMorrison
    My salvation in those lonely pre-internet-porn days. Berkley and Gershon are instant erection. Oh yeah, this movie is no worse than any other straight to video soft-core flick ever made, is just that this was released in cinemas. It was an easy target for critics, when Striptease... read more is far more atrocious, and with way less boobs.

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Critic Reviews

Rick Groen
April 12, 2002
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

The script -- a generic blend mixing the soap of All About Eve with the suds of Valley of the Dolls -- is replete with the clunkiest dialogue this side of Peyton Place. Full Review

Kenneth Turan
February 13, 2001
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

A film of thunderous oafishness that gives adult subject matter the kind of bad name it does not need or deserve. Full Review

Desson Thomson
January 1, 2000
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

To take Showgirls that seriously (as either trash-art or appalling pornography) wouldn't be worth the exertion. Full Review

Susan Wloszczyna
January 1, 2000
Susan Wloszczyna, USA Today

[The script] is as hoary as it is whore-y, whipping out every backstage cliche as he recycles his Flashdance plot into Trashdance.

Mick LaSalle
January 1, 2000
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Think of Flashdance but with an unappealing leading lady playing a woman whose fierce ambition is to do something not admirable, just ridiculous. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

A waste of a perfectly good NC-17 rating. Full Review

James Berardinelli
January 1, 2000
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

One of the worst films of the year. Full Review

Joe Baltake
January 1, 2000
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee

Showgirls approximates the feeling of someone sleazy putting the make on you. Its brand of sexual harassment makes you feel dirty and not at all flattered. Full Review

Rita Kempley
January 1, 2000
Rita Kempley, Washington Post

An overcoat movie for men who don't want to be seen going into a porno theater. Full Review

Philip Martin
July 10, 2010
Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

...a bad film, borderline inept, with an anti-erotic toxic charge about it. It deserved all the mean things people said about it. Full Review

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    • James Smith: Man, everybody got AIDS and shit.
    • Cristal Connors: You fuck him for the spot? Or did you fuck him cause you wanted to? I say you did it for the spot.
    • Nomi Malone: Is that what you did Cristal?
    • Cristal Connors: You don't want to piss me off darlin', now that we're friends.
    • Nomi Malone: No... You shouldn't get pissed off. Makes you look older.
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  • In Showgirls What Saved By The Bell Actress Plays Nomi Malone ?  Answer »
  • In what movie did the following quote come from? "If you're the last one standing there they hire you"  Answer »
  • In 'Showgirls,' what is the name of the main character, played by Elizabeth Berkley.  Answer »
  • The line is "I'm erect. Why aren't you erect?" and the movie is...   Answer »
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