I hope it's better than Showgirls, camp classic or not.
Been looking forward to this as I am a Christine A fan....I hope she can cut the acting, but the one song I've heard her sing from it is fab - and much better than anything from her recent Bionic album
A Sony Pictures Entertainment release of a Screen Gems presentation of a De Line Picture production. Directed, written by Steven Antin.
Tess - Cher Ali - Christina Aguilera Marcus - Eric Dane Jack - Cam Gigandet Georgia - Julianne Hough Alexis - Alan Cumming Vince - Peter Gallagher Nikki - Kristen Bell Sean - Stanley Tucci
A certain garishness goes with the territory, but the rest is all writer-director Steven Antin's doing in "Burlesque," an overwrought, underwritten hootchy-kootchy tuner that desperately wants to be "Cabaret," but lacks the edge and historical context to pull it off. Unfolding with the wide-eyed innocence of a classic MGM musical, in which an orphaned country girl -- played by vocally endowed, acting-challenged pop star Christina Aguilera -- finds her place within the dysfunctional family of a racy Sunset Strip nightclub, "Burlesque" partially redeems its clumsy drama through infectious song and dance, enough to win over a midsize teen (and gay) following.
Aguilera plays Ali, an Iowa waitress of indeterminate age who can't stand one more minute in her dusty small town, quits her job and then sticks around to sing an opening number (an Etta James cover) before catching the bus to Los Angeles. Her dreams aren't big -- just something better than she left behind -- and she realizes them in the Burlesque Lounge, a retro-styled joint where scantily clad, stunningly beautiful showgirls outnumber the customers, performing a mix of old and new songs.
"Burlesque" is to its namesake what gentlemen's clubs are to genuine gentlemen -- a stripped-down, tarted-up lingerie show divorced from the stage tradition's satirical heritage, which makes for sexy, flash-of-skin dance numbers (ably edited by "Dreamgirls" cutter Virginia Katz) in lieu of wit or parody. The thin drama stumbles until Ali reaches the club -- energized by Cher's "Welcome to Burlesque" -- a song that simultaneously introduces all the key characters and sells the nightclub's appeal (the only example of expositional multitasking to be found on the soundtrack).
Clearly, the Burlesque Lounge is where Ali belongs, but it delivers virtually nothing in the way of conflict: The only obstacle is for Ali to win over tough-love Tess, the motherly co-owner of the club, who looks more like a Cher impersonator than the real Cher during her entrance -- but soon reminds us of her gifts as both siren and star, socking over the movie's lone ballad, the Dianne Warren-written "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," in what could have been a throwaway scene.
The dancers are more or less interchangeable, with the exception of resident diva Nikki (Kristen Bell) and Georgia ("Dancing With the Stars" winner Julianne Hough), whose conveniently timed pregnancy provides an opening for Ali. Meanwhile, Antin deliberately blurs the sexuality of the male characters, including androgynous emcee Alexis (Alan Cumming, in "Cabaret" mode), gay stage manager Sean (Stanley Tucci, who survives unscathed) and eyeliner-wearing bartender Jack ("Twilight's" Cam Gigandet).
"Burlesque" may be trading in archetypes, but that's no excuse for the fact Ali is the least developed of these characters. Is she 20 or 30? A virgin or a skank? Antin gives us nothing to go on, apart from a detail about Ali's mom dying shortly after the girl's seventh birthday, and Aguilera, while undeniably entertaining when her character is onstage, cannot spin the slight backstory into anything resembling a full-blooded person. It's a shortcoming, considering how much Tucci and Cher are able to do with their relatively minor roles.
As long as there's music playing and girls sashaying, the movie delivers. But the instant it returns to earth, the seams start to show. What "Burlesque" needs is texture -- not the red-velvet-and-rhinestones look that dominates the production design, but any sense that these are real people with real dreams facing real obstacles, rather than the overdue mortgage and moneybags investor (Eric Dane) Antin conjures up.
Antin, who has been prominently billed on posters and bus sides, is a former actor who made his screenwriting debut with 1992's indie satire "Inside Monkey Zetterland." While that movie aired the self-absorbed frustrations of those who drift into Los Angeles in search of stardom only to find rejection, "Burlesque" paints a rosier picture of showbiz, where talented hard workers eventually get their shot -- none of the chewed-up and spat-out "Showgirls"-style vitriol here. Script shortcomings aside, Antin still manages to marshal an impressive production, and below-the-line contributions are consistently pro, except for greenscreen effects that look less convincing than Aguilera's eyelashes.
The film economically divides its time between the Burlesque Lounge and Jack's apartment, cutting to the club's neon marquee so often between scenes that a drinking game seems in order. The lounge itself looks great, a model that could easily translate to a themed restaurant or Broadway show if the need should ever arise.
It has to be one of the oldest stories in the Hollywood playbook: Ingenue comes to Tinseltown and becomes an overnight sensation, which inspires romance, conflicts and animosities.
But this tale gets a vibrant makeover in writer-director Steve Antin's toe-tapping, flamboyantly skin-deep musical Burlesque. Yes, it's only skin-deep, and so what? Perhaps because they're so rarely attempted these days, recent musicals have felt a self-conscious need to dig for significance, whether it be artistic malaise (Nine), racial inequality (Dreamgirls) or media manipulation (Chicago). Burlesque stays aggressively on the surface, reveling in its artificiality.
It was a risky bet by this first-time feature director to cast songstress Christina Aguilera, a singer who had never acted in a film. The stroke of genius here is to pair her with pop-music icon Cher. Although Aguilera is in nearly every scene and Cher appears irregularly, they nicely balance each other as they play single-minded characters passionate about their work as cabaret performers.
One is at wits' end about a possibly dying art and the other too fresh and enthused to notice. One singer-actress is an old pro and the other a superb entertainer exploring a new avenue for her talent. (Note to Cher: In this instance, "old" is a good thing and a compliment. You still look fabulous.)
Another successful gamble was to make a musical, traditionally a mating ritual, into a female-centric extravaganza. The movie backgrounds its male characters as best it can -- Love Interest, Best (Gay) Friend, Frantic Ex-Husband, Ravenous Real Estate Developer -- so the beautiful, fabulous women are front and center.
Women will love this, and men won't mind the eye candy either, so it looks like this Screen Gems release can't help becoming a hit. News stories about conflicts on the set and reshoots will only fuel the curiosity factor. Besides, burlesque itself -- a stage-show tradition dating to late-19th century British music halls -- with its risque humor and ample flesh (without full exposure), is making a comeback. Burlesque should seal the deal.
The movie takes place in a Sunset Boulevard theater called the Burlesque Lounge that's on its last legs, no matter how curvy and luscious those legs may be. In walks the naive heroine from Iowa, Aguilera's Ali Rose. She's hooked the minute she sees Cher's Tess, the club's co-owner and resident diva, belt out "Welcome to Burlesque," backed by a chorus line in fishnet stockings and eye-popping bustiers.
No one will give her a job, so with the help of a handsome bartender (Cam Gigandet) -- Love Interest -- she creates one out of thin air. She grabs a tray and is now a cocktail waitress only one urgent plea/conniving manipulation/sensational audition away from that glorious stage.
She gets that shot, of course, and later gets to display that big Aguilera voice, which rocks the theater. A star may be born, but "nothing's what it seems" -- one of the many cliche lines that Antin's screenplay indulges in with glee.
The Burlesque Lounge teeters on bankruptcy. Tess' Frantic Ex-Husband (Peter Gallagher) pleads her to sell to the Real Estate Developer (Eric Dane), while her Best (Gay) Friend (Stanley Tucci) assures her that things somehow will work out. The film's romantic melodrama centers on Ali's tentative flirtation with the bartender. They end up circumstantial roommates in his Hollywood apartment, but he has a "fiancee" back in New York, a nightly long-distance phone call that does nothing to warm his bed.
Back at the theater, a good girl (Julianne Hough) is pregnant and a bad girl (Kristen Bell) insanely jealous of Ali's popularity. And so the various plot lines go, serving mostly to inspire song-and-dance numbers from the female performers. Occasionally, a number takes place in the mind of its heroine. Perhaps the entire movie actually takes place there.
The songs tip their hats to various showbiz traditions. "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" is a nod to '50s showstoppers, "Wagon Wheel Watusi" leans toward '60s pop, and "Something's Got a Hold on Me" and blues pieces add a touch of soul.
Dances choreographed by Denise Faye and Joey Pizzi aren't conventional displays of happy feet and athletic agility. Instead, numbers are a series of poses built around a prop, like a chair. Hair flies this way, buttocks thrust that way, and arms strike out at abrupt angles. Virginia Katz's editing is swift as Bojan Bazelli's camera moves fluidly in front of the stage.
Antin is in his element here. His sister Robin founded mischievous burlesque troupe the Pussycat Dolls, and he has directed a couple of their videos. He clearly loves this world. The numbers would make Ziegfeld proud; they glorify the American girl with only a little PG-13 naughtiness. Antin knows what you came to see, and he delivers.
So does Aguilera. Her role is kept deliberately nondescript so she can fill it with her own personality and big voice. She does bring beguiling innocence to the part, along with a single-minded determination and a hellacious amount of performing talent.
Cher gets only one other number, "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," which might become her anthem just as "My Way" belonged to Sinatra.
Tucci has his moments as the stage manager and Tess' right-hand man to lighten the melodrama, but the other roles tend toward blandness. The worst served is Alan Cumming. If ever a performer should have been at home in this milieu, it's Cumming -- who, after all, has done Cabaret onstage. Did his role wind up on the cutting-room floor?
Nonetheless, credit Antin with pulling the film musical back to its roots. With Moulin Rouge and Chicago, the musical was beginning to look like long-playing videos. Burlesque is a smart and sassy expedition back to MGM musicals under Arthur Freed, by way of Bob Fosse's jazz-style song-and-dance movies. Indeed, the film musical it most closely resembles is Fosse's Sweet Charity.
So Burlesque celebrates its talented stars and the renaissance of burlesque's cheeky fun. The only disappointment is that no Burlesque Lounge actually exists on Sunset Boulevard. On film, it's such a rockin' joint.
A Sony Pictures Entertainment release of a Screen Gems presentation of a De Line Picture production. Directed, written by Steven Antin.
Tess - Cher Ali - Christina Aguilera Marcus - Eric Dane Jack - Cam Gigandet Georgia - Julianne Hough Alexis - Alan Cumming Vince - Peter Gallagher Nikki - Kristen Bell Sean - Stanley Tucci
A certain garishness goes with the territory, but the rest is all writer-director Steven Antin's doing in "Burlesque," an overwrought, underwritten hootchy-kootchy tuner that desperately wants to be "Cabaret," but lacks the edge and historical context to pull it off. Unfolding with the wide-eyed innocence of a classic MGM musical, in which an orphaned country girl -- played by vocally endowed, acting-challenged pop star Christina Aguilera -- finds her place within the dysfunctional family of a racy Sunset Strip nightclub, "Burlesque" partially redeems its clumsy drama through infectious song and dance, enough to win over a midsize teen (and gay) following.
Aguilera plays Ali, an Iowa waitress of indeterminate age who can't stand one more minute in her dusty small town, quits her job and then sticks around to sing an opening number (an Etta James cover) before catching the bus to Los Angeles. Her dreams aren't big -- just something better than she left behind -- and she realizes them in the Burlesque Lounge, a retro-styled joint where scantily clad, stunningly beautiful showgirls outnumber the customers, performing a mix of old and new songs.
"Burlesque" is to its namesake what gentlemen's clubs are to genuine gentlemen -- a stripped-down, tarted-up lingerie show divorced from the stage tradition's satirical heritage, which makes for sexy, flash-of-skin dance numbers (ably edited by "Dreamgirls" cutter Virginia Katz) in lieu of wit or parody. The thin drama stumbles until Ali reaches the club -- energized by Cher's "Welcome to Burlesque" -- a song that simultaneously introduces all the key characters and sells the nightclub's appeal (the only example of expositional multitasking to be found on the soundtrack).
Clearly, the Burlesque Lounge is where Ali belongs, but it delivers virtually nothing in the way of conflict: The only obstacle is for Ali to win over tough-love Tess, the motherly co-owner of the club, who looks more like a Cher impersonator than the real Cher during her entrance -- but soon reminds us of her gifts as both siren and star, socking over the movie's lone ballad, the Dianne Warren-written "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," in what could have been a throwaway scene.
The dancers are more or less interchangeable, with the exception of resident diva Nikki (Kristen Bell) and Georgia ("Dancing With the Stars" winner Julianne Hough), whose conveniently timed pregnancy provides an opening for Ali. Meanwhile, Antin deliberately blurs the sexuality of the male characters, including androgynous emcee Alexis (Alan Cumming, in "Cabaret" mode), gay stage manager Sean (Stanley Tucci, who survives unscathed) and eyeliner-wearing bartender Jack ("Twilight's" Cam Gigandet).
"Burlesque" may be trading in archetypes, but that's no excuse for the fact Ali is the least developed of these characters. Is she 20 or 30? A virgin or a skank? Antin gives us nothing to go on, apart from a detail about Ali's mom dying shortly after the girl's seventh birthday, and Aguilera, while undeniably entertaining when her character is onstage, cannot spin the slight backstory into anything resembling a full-blooded person. It's a shortcoming, considering how much Tucci and Cher are able to do with their relatively minor roles.
As long as there's music playing and girls sashaying, the movie delivers. But the instant it returns to earth, the seams start to show. What "Burlesque" needs is texture -- not the red-velvet-and-rhinestones look that dominates the production design, but any sense that these are real people with real dreams facing real obstacles, rather than the overdue mortgage and moneybags investor (Eric Dane) Antin conjures up.
Antin, who has been prominently billed on posters and bus sides, is a former actor who made his screenwriting debut with 1992's indie satire "Inside Monkey Zetterland." While that movie aired the self-absorbed frustrations of those who drift into Los Angeles in search of stardom only to find rejection, "Burlesque" paints a rosier picture of showbiz, where talented hard workers eventually get their shot -- none of the chewed-up and spat-out "Showgirls"-style vitriol here. Script shortcomings aside, Antin still manages to marshal an impressive production, and below-the-line contributions are consistently pro, except for greenscreen effects that look less convincing than Aguilera's eyelashes.
The film economically divides its time between the Burlesque Lounge and Jack's apartment, cutting to the club's neon marquee so often between scenes that a drinking game seems in order. The lounge itself looks great, a model that could easily translate to a themed restaurant or Broadway show if the need should ever arise.
It has to be one of the oldest stories in the Hollywood playbook: Ingenue comes to Tinseltown and becomes an overnight sensation, which inspires romance, conflicts and animosities.
But this tale gets a vibrant makeover in writer-director Steve Antin's toe-tapping, flamboyantly skin-deep musical Burlesque. Yes, it's only skin-deep, and so what? Perhaps because they're so rarely attempted these days, recent musicals have felt a self-conscious need to dig for significance, whether it be artistic malaise (Nine), racial inequality (Dreamgirls) or media manipulation (Chicago). Burlesque stays aggressively on the surface, reveling in its artificiality.
It was a risky bet by this first-time feature director to cast songstress Christina Aguilera, a singer who had never acted in a film. The stroke of genius here is to pair her with pop-music icon Cher. Although Aguilera is in nearly every scene and Cher appears irregularly, they nicely balance each other as they play single-minded characters passionate about their work as cabaret performers.
One is at wits' end about a possibly dying art and the other too fresh and enthused to notice. One singer-actress is an old pro and the other a superb entertainer exploring a new avenue for her talent. (Note to Cher: In this instance, "old" is a good thing and a compliment. You still look fabulous.)
Another successful gamble was to make a musical, traditionally a mating ritual, into a female-centric extravaganza. The movie backgrounds its male characters as best it can -- Love Interest, Best (Gay) Friend, Frantic Ex-Husband, Ravenous Real Estate Developer -- so the beautiful, fabulous women are front and center.
Women will love this, and men won't mind the eye candy either, so it looks like this Screen Gems release can't help becoming a hit. News stories about conflicts on the set and reshoots will only fuel the curiosity factor. Besides, burlesque itself -- a stage-show tradition dating to late-19th century British music halls -- with its risque humor and ample flesh (without full exposure), is making a comeback. Burlesque should seal the deal.
The movie takes place in a Sunset Boulevard theater called the Burlesque Lounge that's on its last legs, no matter how curvy and luscious those legs may be. In walks the naive heroine from Iowa, Aguilera's Ali Rose. She's hooked the minute she sees Cher's Tess, the club's co-owner and resident diva, belt out "Welcome to Burlesque," backed by a chorus line in fishnet stockings and eye-popping bustiers.
No one will give her a job, so with the help of a handsome bartender (Cam Gigandet) -- Love Interest -- she creates one out of thin air. She grabs a tray and is now a cocktail waitress only one urgent plea/conniving manipulation/sensational audition away from that glorious stage.
She gets that shot, of course, and later gets to display that big Aguilera voice, which rocks the theater. A star may be born, but "nothing's what it seems" -- one of the many cliche lines that Antin's screenplay indulges in with glee.
The Burlesque Lounge teeters on bankruptcy. Tess' Frantic Ex-Husband (Peter Gallagher) pleads her to sell to the Real Estate Developer (Eric Dane), while her Best (Gay) Friend (Stanley Tucci) assures her that things somehow will work out. The film's romantic melodrama centers on Ali's tentative flirtation with the bartender. They end up circumstantial roommates in his Hollywood apartment, but he has a "fiancee" back in New York, a nightly long-distance phone call that does nothing to warm his bed.
Back at the theater, a good girl (Julianne Hough) is pregnant and a bad girl (Kristen Bell) insanely jealous of Ali's popularity. And so the various plot lines go, serving mostly to inspire song-and-dance numbers from the female performers. Occasionally, a number takes place in the mind of its heroine. Perhaps the entire movie actually takes place there.
The songs tip their hats to various showbiz traditions. "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" is a nod to '50s showstoppers, "Wagon Wheel Watusi" leans toward '60s pop, and "Something's Got a Hold on Me" and blues pieces add a touch of soul.
Dances choreographed by Denise Faye and Joey Pizzi aren't conventional displays of happy feet and athletic agility. Instead, numbers are a series of poses built around a prop, like a chair. Hair flies this way, buttocks thrust that way, and arms strike out at abrupt angles. Virginia Katz's editing is swift as Bojan Bazelli's camera moves fluidly in front of the stage.
Antin is in his element here. His sister Robin founded mischievous burlesque troupe the Pussycat Dolls, and he has directed a couple of their videos. He clearly loves this world. The numbers would make Ziegfeld proud; they glorify the American girl with only a little PG-13 naughtiness. Antin knows what you came to see, and he delivers.
So does Aguilera. Her role is kept deliberately nondescript so she can fill it with her own personality and big voice. She does bring beguiling innocence to the part, along with a single-minded determination and a hellacious amount of performing talent.
Cher gets only one other number, "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," which might become her anthem just as "My Way" belonged to Sinatra.
Tucci has his moments as the stage manager and Tess' right-hand man to lighten the melodrama, but the other roles tend toward blandness. The worst served is Alan Cumming. If ever a performer should have been at home in this milieu, it's Cumming -- who, after all, has done Cabaret onstage. Did his role wind up on the cutting-room floor?
Nonetheless, credit Antin with pulling the film musical back to its roots. With Moulin Rouge and Chicago, the musical was beginning to look like long-playing videos. Burlesque is a smart and sassy expedition back to MGM musicals under Arthur Freed, by way of Bob Fosse's jazz-style song-and-dance movies. Indeed, the film musical it most closely resembles is Fosse's Sweet Charity.
So Burlesque celebrates its talented stars and the renaissance of burlesque's cheeky fun. The only disappointment is that no Burlesque Lounge actually exists on Sunset Boulevard. On film, it's such a rockin' joint.
"Unfolding with the wide-eyed innocence of a classic MGM musical, in which an orphaned country girl -- played by vocally endowed, acting-challenged pop star Christina Aguilera"
lol
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
I downloaded the soundtrack to this last week and I have to say I love it! It's quite soul-ly/jazz-y with a couple of power ballads for Cher and XTina. It's far better than Christina's CD a few months ago...cant wait to see the film.
So far its only at around 30 percent positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes which calculates all the reviews and gives it a percentage. Even the good reviews are not great.
So far it would appear its not very good to be remembered but not bad enough (The amazing Showgirls) to get a cult following
