Wolff rating: EVIL
Plot summary: Young girl without a past goes to Vegas to become a classy showgirl and will do anything to get there.
Biased, pithy comments: This is a show that could have been ``All About Eve'' and turned into ``Dull Surprise Weekly.'' Berkley, a mildly attractive woman, goes from scene to scene looking like an overly made-up deer caught in the headlights (thus the dull surprise comment). Although other performers around her are doing their best to make this something more (MacLachlan, Davi, and even a bedraggled Rachins trying to be tough), Berkley's spastic, dull performance and the rambling, boring script by Joe Eszterhas (who wrote a rambling, boring script for ``Jade'' and a rambling, but less boring ``Basic Instinct'') combine to kill any sign of life. Besides managing to make nudity entirely unerotic (I think Gershon is kind of a babe, but I thought she looked better with her clothes on in this film), Verhoeven (whose best work is still ``Robocop'') got me so bored I began fast-forwarding through the nude dance scenes so I could get to the end. By the time Nomi (Berkley) is reaching some sort of epiphany (it was murky), I was long past caring. Yawn-o-rama. The theme of the movie is vaguely about how arty Vegas topless shows are a dodge---viewers are really after nudity and we might as well go to a strip club. This movie seems to be living proof that if we want action hotter than R-rated movies, we should just rent porn and be done with it.
Other Notes: There was a brief movement to turn this dog into a sort of ``Rocky Horror,'' but I think it was just too boring. NC-17 for nearly continuous breast-baring for over an hour. See ``Exotica'' instead. No, seriously, this movie sucks; it's not even worth seeing to laugh at; I was mind-numbingly bored. ``It's her knee!''
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan, Gina Gershon, Glenn Plummer, Robert Davi, Alan Rachins, Gina Ravera.
Directed by: Paul Verhoeven