Admirable effort just isn't enough to save this movie from the trashy musical that it is!

Rating: 4/10 (26 January 2011)

'BURLESQUE': Two Stars (Out of Five)
Over the top musical depicting the glamorous life of a burlesque club in the 70's starring the aging ex-diva Cher and the past her prime pop singer Christina Aguilera. Aguilera is better than Britney Spears and a few other pop stars turned actresses but still not leading woman material. Cher has fun with her role but is uninspired. The film is filled with a much more talented and impressive supporting cast including Kristin Bell, Stanley Tucci, Peter Gallagher, Eric Dane, Cam Gigandet and Alan Cumming (who's performance is slightly reminiscent to Joel Grey's academy award winning turn as the 'Master of Ceremonies' in 'CABARET'). The film is written and directed by Steve Antin.
The story revolves around a failing burlesque club ran by an ex-dancer named Tess (Cher). The club was popular in it's heyday but is now long past it's prime and struggling to stay in business. A local successful businessman (Dane) has offered to buy the club but Tess really doesn't want to give it up. A young girl from Iowa, named Ali (Aguilera), shows up looking to escape her past and falls in love with the burlesque life. She's given a shot at dancing, much too the disappointment of the club's pampered star Nikki (Bell) and the rivalry gets even more heated when Ali shows off her amazing singing voice and breaths new life into the club.
The film is full of big numbers and lavish costumes and set designs but it really doesn't live up to it's promise of a big brash musical. The dialogue is intentionally funny and clever at times but also unintentionally laughable at others and the drama is a joke. The songs are mediocre at best although Aguilera does have a more than decent singing voice. Bell is great as the bitchy villainess and it's nice to see her breaking her type cast and getting away from the goody tushu princesses she usually plays. Although the movie probably would have been much better if her and Aguilera had switched roles. Tucci and Cumming are great as well as the rest of the supporting cast but their admirable effort just isn't enough to save this movie from the trashy musical that it is.
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