Movie #359 ......................."Burlesque"

Movie #359 "Burlesque" was a big shock to me. I had looked it up on rotten.tomatoes (of course) before taking a small group to it (the calendar girls), and I was not surprised that 30 percent of critics disliked the movie; however, the big surprise is that 70 percent of the audience liked it ---- a huge difference, so I wanted to see it because of the controversy. I really liked this. Of course, the movie has been done before (what hasn't, if you have seen a lot of movies?), and some of the dialogue is a bit stagey, but here are the positives: it has Cher (and we rarely get to see her in movies anymore --- she used to be really, really good acting --- I'm not raving about her acting here, but you get to see her perform 2 numbers, and she's terrific in both of them --- and I'm guessing we'll get to see her sing a song at the academy awards this February, the songs are that good!); the movie has Stanley Tucci, and who doesn't like him? he keeps it real! And then, there's an amazing performance by Christina Aguilera, whom, I have to admit, I have never really heard/seen perform, that I knew of. When she takes over the stage, she really takes over the stage --- and her voice is a lot like a younger Cher, so that was fun to watch the mentor/mentee play out in the film ---- there's obvious a rapport/respect between the two singers, and that's fun to watch. One more kudo goes the lighting ---- the powers that be in this film got ,oh,just the great Broadway team of Fisher/Eisenhower (who did Chicago and everything else that has ever been really good on Broadway, so far) to light this movie --- so, it is worth it to see a film lit well. And one more thing --------it is clean! seriously, I had heard about Aguilera being , well, not a good role model for kids, but the movie is very clean, well, for a movie on burlesque --- women are hardly in their clothes and they gyrate around (like flashdance) but It takes several minutes in for a first kiss, and then the love scenes fade to black, so you could take teen girls and they would love the musical numbers ---- which are the best parts of the film. So, yes, I recommend it. There's a song toward the end that Cher sings about not having seen the last of her, and I hope we haven't!




I gave it 4 stars
Burlesque
(2010) PG-13
After leaving Iowa with stars in her eyes, Ali (Christina Aguilera) arrives in Los Angeles and at a burlesque lounge, where she dreams of taking the stage with her soaring voice. Club owner Tess (Cher) is about to lose the place and thinks Ali might help business. Meanwhile, Ali's roommate, Jack (Cam Gigandet), starts to fall for her. Steve Antin directs; Stanley Tucci co-stars as Tess's sidekick, and Kristen Bell plays Ali's rival.
Genre: Contemporary Movie Musicals, Showbiz Dramas
This movie is: Campy
Format: DVD and Blu-ray availability date unknown