Showgirls (No Spoilers)

Day 4 of Razzie Winners Week gives us one of the most infamous Razzie winners of all time.

Nomi hitches a ride to Vegas to become a dancer. Her first night there she meets Molly, a seamstress for the Stardust's show Goddess, a topless revue. Molly and Nomi become roommates, and one night Nomi goes backstage at the Stardust with Molly. There she meets queen bee Cristal, who degrades Nomi's job at a stripclub as not dancing.

Soon a spot opens up in the chorus line of Goddess, and Nomi auditions, getting the part. From then on it's a bitter rivalry between Nomi and Cristal, as Nomi does her best to claw her way to the top.

Want to know what happens? Spoilers--->After a show one night, Nomi pushes Cristal down the stairs when no one is looking. The bosses decide Nomi is the best to take her place. Nomi becomes the new star of the Stardust, but things go sour after Molly is raped by superstar musician at a party for Nomi's opening night. When the bosses of the Stardust insist on giving Molly "hush money," Nomi decides to beat the hell out of the singer to avenge Molly and then just leave Sin City altogether.<---End spoilers. I'm convinced this movie was suppose to be one big joke, but nobody told Elizabeth Berkley. Gina Gershon knew it. Kyle MacLachlan knew it. But poor Jessie Spano was left in the dark. Ms. Berkley displays all her fine acting skills that followed her from Saturday morning favorite "Saved By The Bell" in this so-bad-it's-almost-entertaining crapfest. The problem is, Berkley isn't hamming it up for the cameras, unlike Gershon: Berkley is honestly acting her heart out here. You can tell she honestly believes this was the role that would wipe away that good girl, teeny bopper image and make her a true household name. Well, she was certainly right, but probably not in the way she had hoped. Showgirls was more or less a career killer for her, not that any of her other former SBTB castmates made much of themselves either, but she has probably become the biggest joke...okay, she's tied with Dustin Diamond in that category.

Besides Elizabeth's too-over-the-top-for-a-Lifetime-made-for-tv-movie acting, the movie suffers most in story. I know...the plot is suppose to be as thin as the few clothes actually worn in the film, but for what it is, Showgirls is far too long. Clocking in at 131 minutes, the movie just starts to drag. I'm sure for all the people who look forward to the massive amounts of gratuitous nudity and sex, it's not a problem. For me I lost interest quickly, feeling that there were multiple subplots (term used loosely) that could've easily been axed.

I think more screen time could've been used for Nomi and Cristal's rivalry, which was fun to watch, but just didn't seem to get hateful enough, until Nomi's final strike that is. Then again, maybe it was suppose to be more hateful and the crap acting/writing/directing didn't quite convey such emotions. Hmmmm...it's just a theory.

Surprisingly, and not so surprisingly, Showgirls has hit cult status over the years and is one of MGM's top 20 bestselling videos of all time. I could see, given the right mood and group of people, how one could have fun watching this with a group of super drunk friends, mercilessly mocking the wretchedness Showgirls so proudly displays. But attempting to watch this sober and alone...not recommended.

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Random Facts:
-Other Razzie 1996 Worst Picture Nominees were Congo, It's Pat, Waterworld, and The Scarlett Letter.
-Showgirls won a total of 7 Razzies out of 13 nominations. It also picked up an additional nomination in 2005 for Worst "Drama" of Our First 25 Years and an additional award in 2000 for Worst Picture of the Decade.
-Showgirls currently has an IMDB rating of 3.9 and a 14% on Rotten Tomatoes.