Rating: 3/5
Burlesque is not the sort of movie I generally expect to enjoy. The whole point of shooting it seems to have been to provide Christina Aguilera with a movie vehicle, and her music is not generally to my taste.
And yet…I did enjoy it. The exuberance and spectacle of the musical numbers carries the audience along; the story is so light you can’t really be annoyed by it; the characters are so familiar they don’t interest anyone and the upside of that is they don’t annoy anyone, either.
Christina Aguilera may be the *star* but it’s Cher who gives the only thing resembling an acting performance as club spiky club owner Tess. In fact, it’s also Cher who has the most memorable song and dance number – the club opener, Welcome to Burlesque.
Aguilera is the weak link in the film: the woman cannot act, and neither can her love interest, Cam Gigandet. Their scenes together are especially painful: Gigandet grimaces through his lines and whenever Aguilera feels the scene requires more than simply delivering her lines, she alternates between pouting, pushing her sizeable bosom at the camera or swinging her backside. It’s excruciating…but somehow manages to be hilariously campy more than anything else. How the crew members kept straight faces is beyond me.
At Burlesque, the audience learns, every dancer needs a gay friend she can rely on to pick up the pieces when things get rough. Cher has promiscuous Sean, played by Stanley Tucci, the club’s dresser who can’t remember the names of the men he goes home with, presumably because all his sensitivity and mental energy is spent on providing Tess with unlimited support and sharp quips. Ali initially thinks Jack (Cam Gigandet) will perform the same role for her. But, lo! He turns out to be straight so instead of using him for free accommodation she starts paying rent and falls in love with him. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this portrayal of gay men or male/female friendships. But this is not a movie to which one goes looking for truth or profundity.
Other familiar faces making brief contributions are Peter Gallagher (suitable seedy as Tess’s loser ex, Vince) and Alan Cumming who has little more than a cameo as the club’s doorman. He also has a routine, a filthy homage to Cabaret’s Two Ladies. Kristen Bell is also fun as Ali’s ubiquitous bitchy rival.
As a musical fan, I enjoyed all the song and dance, especially towards the start of the film. Aguilera also acted in a music production role on the film and her influence is to the detriment of the movie’s second half – once Ali becomes the club’s star, fun, rousing numbers and dance routines give way to songs which bear far to much resemblance to hits like Dirrty and Candy Man. This seemed a bit foolish to me, since she presumably took on the movie role in an attempt to show some breadth of talent. Also, whoever thought it was a good idea to put the word ‘burlesque’ into the title of every single song needs a sound beating.
As for the script…while admittedly cheesy it has at least been written by someone with above average literacy. I rather liked the line ‘Liberated perhaps. Libated, definitely.’
In short, a guilty pleasure, to be enjoyed with popcorn, marshmallows and low expectations. The sort of film you don’t buy on DVD, but watch whenever it comes on TV.
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