Year of Release: 2010
Director: Steve Antin
Starring: Cher, Christina Aguilera, Kristen Bell, Stanley Tucci, Cam Gigandet, Eric Dane, Alan Cumming, Peter Gallagher, Dianna Agron, Glynn Turman, Terrence Jenkins, James Brolin, Julianne Hough, Isabella Hoffman, Michael Landes, David Walton
Genre: Drama, Musical
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 2
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Synopsis and Review:
After a long career as an actor (he played small but interesting roles in Richard Donner's "The Goonies" and Jonathan Kaplan's "The Accused"), Steve Antin made his directorial debut with "Burlesque". The film follows the story of Ali, a young woman from Iowa, who is working as a waitress, but has dreams of moving to Los Angeles, and going into show business. She finally decides to move forward with the pursuit of her dream, and packs her meager belongings, moving to LA, quickly finding a place to live. She immediately starts looking for places to work, and accidentally discovers a club by the name of Burlesque. Intrigued she goes in, and becomes fascinated by what she sees. She begs for a job with the owner of the club, the charismatic Tess, who initially turns her down. Aiming for a way in, Ali starts waitressing, and finally gets a chance to showcase her dancing moves when one of the dancers becomes pregnant. The club is going through some financial hardship, something that slowly starts turning once Ali starts singing, and the crowds show up. However that's not enough to save the club, and Tess herself from near bankruptcy, that is until Ali figures a solution.
"Burlesque" is a quasi-fantasy musical film, existing in a land located between Rob Marshall's "Chicago" and Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge". What was so indelible in those two films, besides of course the fantastic performances and production values, was the consistency of its storytelling, and the universe that those filmmakers managed to create and deliver. Sadly with Steve Antin, the film desperately tries to tell the story of a rags to riches of a country girl (whose motivation is never quite made clear), who on the seemingly first day of looking for a job, instantly finds one, and rapid fire succeeds in getting a promotion to a dancing job (again, that's another thing that's never quite expanded upon, Ali's intuitively capability to dance professionally). While these fantastical coincidences aren't necessarily a detrimental factor in a musical, the characters that inhabit this film have little to no dimension, from Cher's club owner, who spends almost the entire narrative trying to save the club, Stanley Tucci's best friend role (and costumer?), who apparently solely exists to be in dressing rooms and behind the drapes, even Christina Aguilera, who after some challenges occur, seems undaunted by anything and whose character is pretty much one note all the time. Even if this film is intended as a fantasy, the odd combination of this superficiality with vague attempts at capturing the entertainment life in LA, seems disjointed and oddly anachronistic. As far as the musical numbers, and personal taste aside, the choreography on display is glitzy and flashy, but the best song of the entire film, comes courtesy of Hope Sandoval and Mazzy Star. This talented cast deserved a better script and more vision of its director. Forgettable.
"Burlesque" is a quasi-fantasy musical film, existing in a land located between Rob Marshall's "Chicago" and Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge". What was so indelible in those two films, besides of course the fantastic performances and production values, was the consistency of its storytelling, and the universe that those filmmakers managed to create and deliver. Sadly with Steve Antin, the film desperately tries to tell the story of a rags to riches of a country girl (whose motivation is never quite made clear), who on the seemingly first day of looking for a job, instantly finds one, and rapid fire succeeds in getting a promotion to a dancing job (again, that's another thing that's never quite expanded upon, Ali's intuitively capability to dance professionally). While these fantastical coincidences aren't necessarily a detrimental factor in a musical, the characters that inhabit this film have little to no dimension, from Cher's club owner, who spends almost the entire narrative trying to save the club, Stanley Tucci's best friend role (and costumer?), who apparently solely exists to be in dressing rooms and behind the drapes, even Christina Aguilera, who after some challenges occur, seems undaunted by anything and whose character is pretty much one note all the time. Even if this film is intended as a fantasy, the odd combination of this superficiality with vague attempts at capturing the entertainment life in LA, seems disjointed and oddly anachronistic. As far as the musical numbers, and personal taste aside, the choreography on display is glitzy and flashy, but the best song of the entire film, comes courtesy of Hope Sandoval and Mazzy Star. This talented cast deserved a better script and more vision of its director. Forgettable.
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