Small town girl from Iowa goes to L.A. to make her show business dreams come true.

Rating: Null/10 (29 March 2011)

Cher gets first billing, for her status in the industry, but the story is built around Aguilera's character, Ali (short for Alice), a small town Iowa girl working in a greasy spoon and getting bored very fast. Fed up with the hole she appears to be in she takes what she can scrape up and heads to Los Angeles.
When there she does the usual search in the classifieds, trying to find a job, when she happens upon the nightspot called "Burlesque", run by Cher as Tess. They are not hiring so she picks up a tray and starts waiting tables, without an invitation. She eventually gets a chance to show what she can do, which especially is powerful singing, and this forces Tess to reevaluate how she runs her show.
For a singer, I suppose inexperienced as an actress, Aguilera does a fine, believable job as Ali. Cher is of course fine, but the real actor among the cast is Stanley Tucci as Sean, gay jack of all backstage trades and Tess's right hand man. Eric Dane is fine as the bartender, songwriter, Marcus who also gives Ali a place to stay, destined to become Ali's love interest. Dianna Agron is Natalie, the absent fiancée of Marcus, and we only see her once when she returns to find Ali in her place. which is a loss for the movie, as Agron is very good.
The story isn't particularly novel or deep, but it is fun watching the actors and see how the story unfolds. Anyone who enjoys musicals should enjoy this one. My wife and I enjoyed, a DVD from our public library.