Let's go camp-ing!

Rating: 3/10 (4 January 2019)

When they hit the big screen, musicians tend to rarely show any talent beyond singing. Which is why the scripts usually focus on exactly that, with the plot used as merely a filler between songs. Hence we have Tess (Cher) as the owner of a night club she's trying to save from financial ruin. The former dancer throws in a couple of her own songs for good measure, but when the smalltown girl Ali (Christina Aguilera)starts waitressing at the club and expresses a wish to move from the bar to the stage, Tess says no. Ali turns out to have spectacular pipes, which unexpectedly starts a renaissance of the joint with Ali as the star of the show, who gains a grudge with the dancer Nikki and finds a friend in Sean( Stanley Tucci, who, once again, plays the gay assitant). I don't remember the guy in a straight role. Cam Gigandet as the bar tender is walking eye candy and Ali's roommate. The story, of course, is ridiculous and so full of cliches that it's hardly difficult where the whole thing is headed. "Burlesque" is an escapist sugarbubble that's offends only those with enough movie experience to see that this vehicle is like a huge salad of combined rip-offs, like Footloose, Cabaret and Chicago. Cher is desperately trying to convince us she's got more than that one facial expression and, rather unsuccessfully, that she didn't pay for it. Christina is performance-wise certainly much closer to Jeniffer Beals than Liza Minelli, but even that's an exaggeration. The final verdict would be that this is clearly aimed at Cher's fan-base, and since there's a lot of them, unfortunately it seems that didn't necessarily translate to the box office. This might work as a part of a karaoke or a sing-along, otherwise, stay away from it.