![]() Tucci has his moments as the stage manager and Tess’ right-hand man to lighten the melodrama, but the other roles tend toward blandness. She does bring beguiling innocence to the part, along with a single-minded determination and a hellacious amount of performing talent.Ĭher 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. Her role is kept deliberately nondescript so she can fill it with her own personality and big voice. Antin knows what you came to see, and he delivers. The numbers would make Ziegfeld proud they glorify the American girl with only a little PG-13 naughtiness. His sister Robin founded mischievous burlesque troupe the Pussycat Dolls, and he has directed a couple of their videos. Virginia Katz’s editing is swift as Bojan Bazelli’s camera moves fluidly in front of the stage.Īntin is in his element here. Hair flies this way, buttocks thrust that way, and arms strike out at abrupt angles. Instead, numbers are a series of poses built around a prop, like a chair. “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.ĭances choreographed by Denise Faye and Joey Pizzi aren’t conventional displays of happy feet and athletic agility. The songs tip their hats to various showbiz traditions. Perhaps the entire movie actually takes place there. Occasionally, a number takes place in the mind of its heroine. And so the various plot lines go, serving mostly to inspire song-and-dance numbers from the female performers. 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.īack at the theater, a good girl (Julianne Hough) is pregnant and a bad girl ( Kristen Bell) insanely jealous of Ali’s popularity. The film’s romantic melodrama centers on Ali’s tentative flirtation with the bartender. 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 Burlesque Lounge teeters on bankruptcy. 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. She gets that shot, of course, and later gets to display that big Aguilera voice, which rocks the theater. She grabs a tray and is now a cocktail waitress only one urgent plea/conniving manipulation/sensational audition away from that glorious stage. 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’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. In walks the naive heroine from Iowa, Aguilera’s Ali Rose. ![]() 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. 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. News stories about conflicts on the set and reshoots will only fuel the curiosity factor. 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. 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. You still look fabulous.)Īnother successful gamble was to make a musical, traditionally a mating ritual, into a female-centric extravaganza. (Note to Cher: In this instance, “old” is a good thing and a compliment. ![]() One singer-actress is an old pro and the other a superb entertainer exploring a new avenue for her talent. One is at wits’ end about a possibly dying art and the other too fresh and enthused to notice.
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