o4u2001

Joel Schumacher is the worst filmmaker in modern Hollywood history, except for maybe Garry Marshall. Anyone who found this film to resemble anything close to reality needs a mental health check-up. Terrible, terrible performances, especially DeNiro who has already (badly) played this role before in that Robin Williams movie. The offensive, outdated cliches fly so fast and furious that I almost wanted to watch the film again just to count them. If you should choose to subject yourself to this piece of rot, stay alert to keep your brain from melting out of your ears. Schumacher is a hack! Down with Schumacher!

Call me crazy, but I believe this is Spike Lee's greatest film, or will eventually be seen as such. All the rest are either dated political missives, or they attempt something like this film but fail miserably (Summer of Sam). This is an utterly perfect film, carved from life knowledge but shaped into a highly entertaining, objective and pragmatically truthful docu-drama. Like "Fellini Roma", this film is nearly experimental in plot, structure, style and technique. Yet it's the kind of story that comes right out of the bones of poetry and personal experience, and can be appreciated universally for that reason. Hard to believe that the same person made Bamboozled; a sloppy, culturally-late attempt at satire that wrong-headedly breaks every rule of the genre. It's one of the most self-important, didactic films I've ever seen. Guess Spike had his one moment of clarity.

I don't judge a film by it's box office or whether or not the majority of filmgoing dolts liked it. (Though, it should be said, Showgirls cost 45mil and earned 60mil worldwide, not including video and dvd sales. An ok profit even when you include the advertising budget. Especially when you consider that 90% of all theatrically released films lose money.) Face it, look at the list of top grossing films for any week of the year and it's 99% unwatchable garbage. Obviously Showgirls upset a lot of people, or didn't mesh with their idea of a "good film". For myself, I can't get enough. I see so many wonderful things in it. I see dozens of homages and references to other films I love. I see Paul Verhoeven's creative (and gently mocking) use of American idiom. I see a refreshing view of sexuality in which breasts are so common that they become no more interesting than wallpaper, (which--for those who have never seen Follies Bergere--is exactly what this world is like.) I see incredible photography, brilliant blocking, unforgettable characters, insanely fun dialogue and a kind of psychotic-yet-critical view of American culture that you just can't find anywhere outside of a film by Paul Verhoeven. In my opinion it's a nearly perfect film (Nomi's sleazy past should have been more of an issue,) and that's not sarcasm, thank you very much. The much-maligned rape scene really says it all. If you watch the film more than once, you see something quite amazing in the cutaways during the rape. Every single nasty unpleasant couple you've seen during the film is dancing together in the background behind Nomi and Zach. Even Nikki and the Japanese businessman Mr. Okida can be spotted together. Accident? Hell no. Cynical? Extremely. But so is American Beauty which everyone seemed so excited over. (I hated it. So smarmy. The ending was obviously re-written from a more superior version. I've been told that proof of this is on the DVD commentary by the director.) Anyway, I guess my point is, enough already. Everyone knows that a lot of people responded badly to this film. And there are enough negative comments here to fill a dump truck. I'd be much more interested in reading a few thoughtful things people had to say about the film than 500 messages that just say "I hated it! Avoid at all costs!" Who cares if you hated it? Congratulations, you're one of the herd. Any film that affects people so deeply (negatively or positively) obviously has more going for it than meets the eye. There aren't many other "bad" films on the IMDB with this many user comments. (And no, that's not proof that it's an especially bad film. It means people are debating it passionately.)