Showgirls was named one of the worst movies of all time. It has a 4.5 out of 10 rating on IMDB and a 19% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was also the first and only movie with an NC-17 rating to be released in mainstream theatres across America. But this is one of the movies that I keep going back to again and again because I love it so much. I don't love it for the acting (everyone is 100% over acting everything in this), I don't love it for the writing and not even for the directing. I love the cheesy Las Vegas glamour, the neon lights, the bad 90s clothes, the over use of lip liner. I love the bad dialogue and the annoying colors. I love Kyle MacLachlan's bad haircut and I love Gina Gershon's overly sexually charged demeanor. But most of all I love Elizabeth Berkley's wardrobe in this and, on a deeper level, I love the fact that this movie is what movies should be about: we take a step into a character's life and we watch them go through the trials and tribulations of life.
Nomi Malone walks right into Vegas and makes it her bitch. We have no idea what she was doing before she hitchhiked a ride to Nevada with an Elvis Presley look-a-like. She works her way from stripper to showgirl and does it with passion. At the end of the movie, she decides that she's done with Vegas so she hitchhikes back out and continues towards Los Angeles. It's just amazing to me that she arrives in Vegas, says she wants to be a dancer, gets her shit stolen, finds a friend and ends up living with her, makes it as the star showgirl in one of the biggest shows in one of the huge hotel and casinos Stardust (what a perfect name), gets caught in a sticky situation and then finally picks up and leaves it all. A "young drifter" is what she's referred to on IMDB's synopsis of the film.
Isn't that what Vegas is about though? Drifters? People gambling, not just with money but with their dignity? Their imagination and their emotions? I love the lack of comfortableness and the lack of a home in Vegas. I know people who actually live there and to have a house on the outskirts of Fabulous Las Vegas seems strange to me. It's a town built on losers and glitz and glamour. New York is supposed to be the city that never sleeps but for me, Las Vegas is the city that never sleeps. There's no concept of time when you're in one of the hotel/casinos. There's never any windows to see what time of day it is, where the sun is at. It's that reckless, youthful, crazy, hedonistic energy that makes it so exciting.
I could use the same exact words to describe Nomi Malone's wardrobe: reckless, youthful, crazy, and hedonistic. I mean, what the hell is she wearing half the time! Her collection of ugly blouses are envious as well as the fringed leather jacket (I like to imagine she picked it up from some guy she was sleeping with). Her mixing of colors is just as spazzy as she is. A pink bra with a purple cropped, long sleeve blouse that she tied above her ribs paired with Levi's cut off shorts and black cowboy boots? It's so wrong it's right.
I also want to take the time to acknowledge the makeup in this movie. Whoever was the makeup artist on set did a kick ass job. Showgirl makeup is insane for obvious reasons (which is why I appreciate the shots of the girls slathering on what I assume to be Pond's Cold Cream post show as they take their hair and makeup off). The eye makeup, the heavy eyeshadow "everyday wear" makeup, the caking on of lip liner and lipgloss/lipstick (that often don't match) add to the glitz, the schizophrenic nature, and the Vegas-like nature of it all.
Just like listening to Christina Aguilera's album Bionic (arguably her worst album) or eating a burger, fries, and a soda (Nomi's favorite meal), sometimes we need a cheesy movie to watch. Sometimes we need a little Las Vegas. That's probably what Nomi thought when she ran off to Nevada. "I need a little Vegas."
