Showgirls

Verhoeven had his fantasies fulfilled and more, in the process creating a commercial and artistic abomination that set new standards for poor and destroyed Berkley's already feeble chances of ever finding work in Hollywood again. The abomination in question, Showgirls, continues to astound to this day due to the fact that it simply has no merits (besides ironic ones) of any kind. While it's not the first film to lack any discernible message or plot, it might be the only one of those that has no stylistic ambitions either.

Showgirls follows the brief, mercurial career of Nomi Malone (Berkley), an aspiring Vegas showgirl with a mysterious past as she works her way up from the sordid depths of dive bar stripping to the gilded heights of topless line dancing. Along the way she suffers one degradation after another, a series of tests (from the gods?), all of which pose a basic question to her: are you a whore or not? Verhoeven's real perversity is that he makes us watch Nomi's struggle while silmultaneously undercutting its meaning with his dreary insight: everybody is a whore.

There is plenty to laugh at. A little taste: Nomi has just finished her first rehearsal for a popular nudie Vegas act called Goddess that, to her, represents the pinnacle of dancing's possibilities. Afterwards, the show's producer and choreographer discuss her performance earnestly. "How'd she do?" the producer asks. "Well," says the choreographer, "she's no butterfly. Tony, she's all pelvic thrust. I mean she prowls! She's got it." "I wonder how she got it," the producer replies ominously, hinting at the whorish past Nomi's gone to great lengths to conceal (but even casual strangers throughout the film have no problem picking up on).

The real heart of Showgirls' accidental brilliance is the fact that Berkley is actually a horrendous dancer. There must have been thousands of candidates who could have both danced and acted her under the table, but few could match Berkley's twitchy, over-pronounced awkwardness. In fact, she takes any act involving physical movement to new levels of wrong. Her tongue kisses are shocking, vile things. Her orgasms look like she's being Tasered to death. She storms out of all but two of the scenes she's in with a signature ducking motion before each exit that can best be described as gumptastic.

Showgirls received a record-setting 13 Razzies (the Oscars of suck) nominations the year it was released, winning seven and, later, an eighth (also a record) when the film was named Worst Picture of the Decade in 2000. It has since achieved cult classic status as one of the most explicitly terrible movies of all time - like a Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode that's subject is so bad it requires no commentary - and due to its negative popularity, the DVD is one of MGM's best sellers. But its sarcastic delights are probably best experienced in the company of friends as the group effort of mocking it might be the only thing that keeps you from feeling like a whore yourself. Alone, you might find yourself hypnotized by its perplexing absence of heart and depressed at taking any part, even an ironic one, in the wish fulfillments of dirty old Verhoeven.