Pole lotta love for ‘Showgirls’
‘Worst’ film now getting more attention than ever
It was seen as decadent, delusional and delicious, darlin’, but when “Showgirls” opened in 1995, the world was just not ready for it.
Directed by acclaimed Dutch auteur Paul Verhoeven, the movie about shameless strippers vying for grandeur in the Las Vegas universe was supposed to catapult the career of then 23year-old “Saved by the Bell” star Elizabeth Berkley into serious actress territory. But, instead, it “ruined [her] career in a major way,” Verhoeven told The Daily News in 2015. It swept the 1996 Razzies (awards recognizing the worst in film) and, in 2000, it won “worst film of the decade.” Five years later, its badness was cemented in popular culture when it won Razzie’s “worst drama [of the award’s] first 25 years.”
And yet, we are still talking about “Showgirls” nearly 25 years after its release.
A highly anticipated documentary dissecting the good, the bad, and the badass side of the phenomenon has just premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Filmmaker Jeffrey McHale, whose documentary “You Don’t Nomi” is one of Tribeca Film Festival’s “nine movies to watch,” according to Variety, told the Daily News “we’re not done analyzing the response to the film because it was just so rejected on such a large scale when it came out.”
“Audiences have reclaimed it for themselves and given it this second and third life,” McHale said.
In the documentary, “Showgirls” is analyzed so viewers can answer some of the questions that have fueled debate: Is it a masterpiece, a trashy joke, a queer cult or all of the above?
McHale told The News he went for a “deep dive,” seeking commentary from fans, writers, critics and performers.
But “Showgirls” fever isn’t stopping with theatergoers. An art exhibition from THNK1994 Museum, celebrating the fabulousness of Nomi Malone (overplayed by Berkley) and Cristal Connors (played by Gina Gershon), is coming to Resorts World Casino New York City in May.
“Every five years the movie has another kind of resurgence [when] there is a trend in collective consciousness where everybody is like, ‘Oh my God, that is such a good movie. I want to watch that,’ ” said THNK1994 Museum’s Viviana Rosales Olen.
THNK1994 is a popup museum that examines moments in popular and tabloid culture. Olen and roommate Matt Harkins started their curatorial project in 2015.
Their latest venture is “Goddess: The Exhibit,” celebrating “the icons of all things glamorous, Nomi and Cristal.” Harkins, who was 6 when the movie premiered, credits the success to Nomi Malone.
“Without Elizabeth Berkley the movie does not happen,” Harkins said.
And, in yet another nod to Nomi, actress April Kidwell is touring the U.S. in a onewoman show inspired by the pole-licking goddess. “I, Nomi” is due to arrive at New York’s Laurie Beechman Theatre in July.
The musical comedy, which Kidwell also wrote and produced, is about Nomi Malone before and after Las Vegas. “It’s a mashup of ‘Showgirls’ and ‘I Tonya,’ ” Kidwell told The News.
Kidwell saw “Showgirls” for the first time in 2010.
“My jaw was on the floor,” she recalls. Before “I, Nomi,” she starred as Nomi Malone in “Showgirls! The Musical!” Kidwell was interviewed for McHale’s documentary.