BURLESQUE
2010
PG-13
You can watch the trailer here
PG-13
You can watch the trailer here
I know that I'm by no means the key demographic for this film, but with Cher's return to the screen after a seven-year absence as well as the first acting role in a feature film for Christina Aguilera, there was a few reasons to see the movie.
In this Steve Antin-directed flick, we're basically given a pretty standard story of a down-home girl who wants to hit stardom in Hollywood. Ali (Aguilera) sets off from Iowa to make a name for herself in Los Angeles, ultimately starting by waitressing at a burlesque club run by Tess (Cher). After forcing her way into an audition, Ali becomes a back-up dancer at the club, but when a fellow dancer (Kristen Bell) tries to sabotage one of Ali's performances, she responds by singing live in front of the audience. This skyrockets her to a mini-superstardom that attracts the affection of Marcus (Eric Dane), a man trying to buy the club from Tess before it goes under. All the while, Ali is living with Jack (Cam Gigandet), one of the club's bartenders, and is slowly falling in love with him.
I'm gonna be totally honest: the screenplay is absolutely horrendous. Well, that may be a tad harsh. It's not the worst screenplay I've ever seen, but there's absolutely no originality to it whatsoever. Aside from the fact that our main setting is a burlesque club, you could ask a toddler to trace this film's path and they'd probably get it right. It's much too simplistic, and it left a lot to be desired.
Thankfully, the acting somewhat makes up for the pitfalls presented by the storyline. It's always nice to see Cher on-screen, and although she's not by any means at the top of her game, she does give a few spirited scenes, especially via musical number. I also think that Aguilera gives a fine performance. She was wise to choose a role like this for her transition to film because it's so similar to her singing career. I don't think she's as good of an actress as she presents in Burlesque, but maybe this will fool some studios into thinking she is for a little while until she can actually grow as an actress. Luckily, we do have a bit of a scene-stealer in Stanley Tucci, whose little quips and remarks throughout the film are so perfectly timed that I'm not sure I would've liked the movie at all had he not been around.
I'd also like to mention the music in the film which proved to be outstanding. As you can imagine, most of the songs are performed by Christina Aguilera or Cher, and they both do very well, but that shouldn't be much of a shock. If anything, the music is what kept me intrigued throughout the film, with "Express" and "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" being my personal favorites.
As I said before, I'm definitely not the target demographic for Burlesque, but it's not the worst film I've ever seen. Had the screenplay been a little stronger, then maybe I could've said I liked it, but hindsight is 20/20.
In this Steve Antin-directed flick, we're basically given a pretty standard story of a down-home girl who wants to hit stardom in Hollywood. Ali (Aguilera) sets off from Iowa to make a name for herself in Los Angeles, ultimately starting by waitressing at a burlesque club run by Tess (Cher). After forcing her way into an audition, Ali becomes a back-up dancer at the club, but when a fellow dancer (Kristen Bell) tries to sabotage one of Ali's performances, she responds by singing live in front of the audience. This skyrockets her to a mini-superstardom that attracts the affection of Marcus (Eric Dane), a man trying to buy the club from Tess before it goes under. All the while, Ali is living with Jack (Cam Gigandet), one of the club's bartenders, and is slowly falling in love with him.
I'm gonna be totally honest: the screenplay is absolutely horrendous. Well, that may be a tad harsh. It's not the worst screenplay I've ever seen, but there's absolutely no originality to it whatsoever. Aside from the fact that our main setting is a burlesque club, you could ask a toddler to trace this film's path and they'd probably get it right. It's much too simplistic, and it left a lot to be desired.
Thankfully, the acting somewhat makes up for the pitfalls presented by the storyline. It's always nice to see Cher on-screen, and although she's not by any means at the top of her game, she does give a few spirited scenes, especially via musical number. I also think that Aguilera gives a fine performance. She was wise to choose a role like this for her transition to film because it's so similar to her singing career. I don't think she's as good of an actress as she presents in Burlesque, but maybe this will fool some studios into thinking she is for a little while until she can actually grow as an actress. Luckily, we do have a bit of a scene-stealer in Stanley Tucci, whose little quips and remarks throughout the film are so perfectly timed that I'm not sure I would've liked the movie at all had he not been around.
I'd also like to mention the music in the film which proved to be outstanding. As you can imagine, most of the songs are performed by Christina Aguilera or Cher, and they both do very well, but that shouldn't be much of a shock. If anything, the music is what kept me intrigued throughout the film, with "Express" and "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" being my personal favorites.
As I said before, I'm definitely not the target demographic for Burlesque, but it's not the worst film I've ever seen. Had the screenplay been a little stronger, then maybe I could've said I liked it, but hindsight is 20/20.
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