A tale as old as time

Rating: 9/10 (20 January 2020)

This is Showgirls, only way better. Ali is a poor girl living in rural settings and decides to save money and head west to pursue her dream, to be a singer. Luck finds her in a run down bar that runs a nightly burlesque show where the performers only lip sync to songs and dance provocatively. Ali weasels her way into being a waitress there, basically forces the bartender to be her friend and crashes at his place. He is in a complicated relationship and she has her eyes on the cliche rich older hot guy. Ali catches yet further a break when the "star" of the show quits. Fast forward, the star returns and is all jelly of Ali for stealing the spotlight. She kills the music during a routine but gasp, Ali can wail!!!!!!! I think you can see where this is going, god knows I did after the first five minutes. There is some drama thrown in about the bar almost going into foreclosure, and a love triangle. This movie is pretty predictable from start to finish and we are not even graced with any nudity from a single performer in the burlesque show. I know, I know, you are reading this thinking, "But Tony, you gave it 9 stars!" Hell yeah I did and the answer to your why is super simple. Christina Aquilera can wail!!!! Every time she busts out into a song gives me goosebumps, and I am a straight white man. (Sorry) So if you can stomach Cher (I barely could) and want to enjoy some phenomenal songs surrounded by so-so drama, this movie is for you.