Burlesque (DVD)
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This film made my life better
Burlesque (DVD)
Member Name: walsha11
Product:
Burlesque (DVD)
Date: 13/07/12, updated on 13/07/12 (37 review reads)
Rating:
Advantages: funny, Cher, songs
Disadvantages: plot
I'd like to know which writer sat down one day and thought 'do you know what I'd like to see? Cher and Christina Aguilera in a film about a struggling Burlesque club'...I'd like to know so I can thank them because honestly this film may be my favourite thing I've seen all year. Scrap that, in the last decade.
In all seriousness when I first heard about this film my brain couldn't fully compute how or why it existed. I was working in a cinema at the time so when it came out I saw parts of it several times over for a period of a couple of weeks. The songs were extremely catchy and despite every fibre of my being telling me I shouldn't like it I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. It actually made it rather difficult for me to carry out my job.
The basic premise for the film is that small town girl Ali Rose (Christina Aguilera) leaves her crappy job in a bar for the bright lights of LA. It is there that she stumbles upon a run down Burlesque club and is quite literally mesmerised by what she sees. She talks her way into a waitressing job and when she finally plucks up the courage to dance for boss Tess (Cher) she lands a job on stage almost immediately. There is a classic case of bitchiness amongst the other girls, who shun the new girl. In particular drunk starlet Nikki (Kristen Bell) tries her best to sabotage Ali and in one attempt stops the music mid performance. This is Ali's chance to sing her tiny little blonde heart out, and boy does she. Tess is suitably impressed, changes the entire show to allow Ali singing parts and she becomes the main star. What Ali doesn't know is that Tess is battling the bills in order to keep her club and facing numerous tempting offers from developers who want the envied spot with the best view in LA.
Alongside the main plotline there is a little romance going on. The classic case of good guy and best friend versus rich and ultimately slimey older man who battle for her affections. The plot is shockingly predictable with very few plot twists that add anything extra than what you would expect from a film with Cher in it. That said, there is something deeply seductive about this film and it could either be the singing or the cast. I'm inclined to go with the latter.
Christina Aguilera is a bit of a wild card, and obviously she is on board because of her amazing singing voice. But she isn't as terrible as you'd think she might be. I found her voice a little strange, given that I've never actually heard her speak before. I also struggled a little with her character who goes from sweet, innocent girl to massive slutty bitch within the space of 10 minutes. There isn't really any back story which allows you to justify her terrible behaviour and I found myself becoming increasingly angry with her. There are also great performances from Kristen Bell. If you've seen the sloth video and fallen in love with her like I have then I find it hard to buy into her as a mean girl but I loved her in this all the same. I also really enjoyed Stanley Tucci as Sean, basically imagine him in The Devil Wears Prada and then put him in a Burlesque club because that's essentially what the film has done.
Oh and my favourite of all...Cher (I think she deserves her own paragraph). This film led me to ask quite openly on facebook why she has not been in more films. Her performance is something to marvel at. Probably the aspect that I enjoyed most was her ambiguous and often confusing facial expressions, or lack of. She was sad, she was happy and yet her face never gave you the slightest hint of how she was feeling other than gloriously stoic.
I'm going to end this review by telling you that when I watched this a couple of days ago it was accompanied by a rather large bottle of wine (I assume this is how it was intended to be watched, because I'm not sure it could be done sober). If you like films this probably isn't one for you. It is poorly written and the plot is so thin you come away questioning what you have just watched. But, and I'm not ashamed to say it, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. In the same way I thoroughly enjoy watching TOWIE...because even though you know it's wrong it is still captivating.
As terrible as it is I applaud the conviction of the person who wanted so badly to see Cher and Christina Aguilera in a film together that they wrote the script for this in a matter of minutes. It livened up my Thursday evening and if you want a really good laugh then this is the way to indulge yourself.
I bought this DVD for £3 in Asda, and for something that afforded hours of entertainment I really can't complain. I will definitely watch it again but only with some form of alcoholic companion.
Would I recommend this? On a personal level, absolutely yes. Purely because I laughed for 2 hours straight. If you want to see a good film then obviously no, see any other film. On that note, I'm awarding it 5 stars because for me it's a case of being so, so bad that's it is brilliant. Please don't hold me accountable if you watch it and don't feel the same way.
In all seriousness when I first heard about this film my brain couldn't fully compute how or why it existed. I was working in a cinema at the time so when it came out I saw parts of it several times over for a period of a couple of weeks. The songs were extremely catchy and despite every fibre of my being telling me I shouldn't like it I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. It actually made it rather difficult for me to carry out my job.
The basic premise for the film is that small town girl Ali Rose (Christina Aguilera) leaves her crappy job in a bar for the bright lights of LA. It is there that she stumbles upon a run down Burlesque club and is quite literally mesmerised by what she sees. She talks her way into a waitressing job and when she finally plucks up the courage to dance for boss Tess (Cher) she lands a job on stage almost immediately. There is a classic case of bitchiness amongst the other girls, who shun the new girl. In particular drunk starlet Nikki (Kristen Bell) tries her best to sabotage Ali and in one attempt stops the music mid performance. This is Ali's chance to sing her tiny little blonde heart out, and boy does she. Tess is suitably impressed, changes the entire show to allow Ali singing parts and she becomes the main star. What Ali doesn't know is that Tess is battling the bills in order to keep her club and facing numerous tempting offers from developers who want the envied spot with the best view in LA.
Alongside the main plotline there is a little romance going on. The classic case of good guy and best friend versus rich and ultimately slimey older man who battle for her affections. The plot is shockingly predictable with very few plot twists that add anything extra than what you would expect from a film with Cher in it. That said, there is something deeply seductive about this film and it could either be the singing or the cast. I'm inclined to go with the latter.
Christina Aguilera is a bit of a wild card, and obviously she is on board because of her amazing singing voice. But she isn't as terrible as you'd think she might be. I found her voice a little strange, given that I've never actually heard her speak before. I also struggled a little with her character who goes from sweet, innocent girl to massive slutty bitch within the space of 10 minutes. There isn't really any back story which allows you to justify her terrible behaviour and I found myself becoming increasingly angry with her. There are also great performances from Kristen Bell. If you've seen the sloth video and fallen in love with her like I have then I find it hard to buy into her as a mean girl but I loved her in this all the same. I also really enjoyed Stanley Tucci as Sean, basically imagine him in The Devil Wears Prada and then put him in a Burlesque club because that's essentially what the film has done.
Oh and my favourite of all...Cher (I think she deserves her own paragraph). This film led me to ask quite openly on facebook why she has not been in more films. Her performance is something to marvel at. Probably the aspect that I enjoyed most was her ambiguous and often confusing facial expressions, or lack of. She was sad, she was happy and yet her face never gave you the slightest hint of how she was feeling other than gloriously stoic.
I'm going to end this review by telling you that when I watched this a couple of days ago it was accompanied by a rather large bottle of wine (I assume this is how it was intended to be watched, because I'm not sure it could be done sober). If you like films this probably isn't one for you. It is poorly written and the plot is so thin you come away questioning what you have just watched. But, and I'm not ashamed to say it, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. In the same way I thoroughly enjoy watching TOWIE...because even though you know it's wrong it is still captivating.
As terrible as it is I applaud the conviction of the person who wanted so badly to see Cher and Christina Aguilera in a film together that they wrote the script for this in a matter of minutes. It livened up my Thursday evening and if you want a really good laugh then this is the way to indulge yourself.
I bought this DVD for £3 in Asda, and for something that afforded hours of entertainment I really can't complain. I will definitely watch it again but only with some form of alcoholic companion.
Would I recommend this? On a personal level, absolutely yes. Purely because I laughed for 2 hours straight. If you want to see a good film then obviously no, see any other film. On that note, I'm awarding it 5 stars because for me it's a case of being so, so bad that's it is brilliant. Please don't hold me accountable if you watch it and don't feel the same way.
Summary: So bad it can't help being good.
