A campy, fun hot mess

Rating: 7/10 (25 November 2010)

"Burlesque" is definitely the campiest film to come along in a long time. Before seeing this film, I suspected that it might be the new "Showgirls," but alas—it was much better than that. It truly embraced its lack of originality—small town girl with tons of talent escapes banal existence in Iowa and heads to LA to seek fame, fortune, and love. There were, however, some very 21st-century elements added: Stanley Tucci as the benevolent gay sage (Hey, Stanley, aren't you in danger of being typecast in this kind of role? Just sayin'), a hot—I mean HOT—I mean HAWT—male love interest for Christina Aguilera, played by Cam Gigandet (and not only is he Hot—or did I already mention that?—but he's also quite charming), and Cher in all her surgically reconstructed glory. I must admit that Cher's appearance was sometimes so distracting that my mind wandered from the story (not to worry though—it was quite easy to re-orient myself to the achingly simple plot) and I began to wonder whether Cher's enormous lips would go rogue and devour her face. At any rate, for a singer, Christina Aguilera proved to be a pretty good actress, although I doubt her "skill" could stretch beyond this type of role. The songs were adequately entertaining, and there were some clever bits of dialogue amid the mostly clichéd script. Overall, a campy guilty pleasure.