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Showgirls: Paul Verhoeven on the Greatest Stripper Movie Ever Made


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Interesting article with Verhoeven talking frankly about his most despised Hollywood movie, now 20 years old.

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/showgirls-paul-verhoeven-on-the-greatest-stripper-movie-ever-made-20150922?page=2

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That interview was very insightful, it's difficult to snigger at Verhoeven for being a little deluded about his precious movie's "legacy" as he sees it in his own mind. Being that close to something and being so profoundly affected by it for many years is bound to play tricks. I like his honesty though, and that he accepts that it was an experiment which was just utterly rejected. A costly self serving extravagance. It's really little wonder Hollywood shut its doors afterwards is it.

Which is why at the time I wished he'd never made it.

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it's difficult to snigger at Verhoeven for being a little deluded about his precious movie's "legacy" as he sees it in his own mind.

One might also snigger at how your own opinion of the film colours your perception of the director's views on it.

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Not hugely. It's a very flawed movie. But I am a defender of Verhoeven, who been accused of everything from being a pervert, to a maniac.

I understand what Verhoeven was trying to do with the film,. And he probably succeeded marvellously in that. But I'm no fan of the film itself.


It's really little wonder Hollywood shut its doors afterwards is it.

Verhoeven made the fairly successful Starship Troopers afterwards, and The Hollow Man before Hollywood asked him to please go away.

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SHOWGIRLS is a fine film, still hugely underrated and misunderstood (like much of Verhoeven's output), but has slowly become more recognized. I don't love it as much as my colleagues in the film magazine I'm working for, but as a devout Verhoeven fan, there's no denying its many qualities.

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SHOWGIRLS is a fine film, still hugely underrated and misunderstood (like much of Verhoeven's output), but has slowly become more recognized. I don't love it as much as my colleagues in the film magazine I'm working for, but as a devout Verhoeven fan, there's no denying its many qualities.

Only smart people like Zack Snyder understood the movie.

Sucker-Punch-Stills-12_zps8ai3eimo.jpg

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I like all of his films that I've seen, which just just Robocop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, and Starship Troopers. 4 great scores, too!

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You should definitely check it out, but be in the right frame of mind when you do. Verhoeven is often about satire (ROBOCOP, STARSHIP TROOPERS), and this is no exception. If you go to those films you mention for the pure entertainment value only -- which is perfectly OK, btw! -- then you probably won't "get" SHOWGIRLS. But if you approach it through the eyes of satire, and the way he makes a point about camp culture and aesthetics, well then there's much to enjoy. Zack Snyder is not the only one who's caught on to this.

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Interesting article with Verhoeven talking frankly about his most despised Hollywood movie, now 20 years old.

http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/showgirls-paul-verhoeven-on-the-greatest-stripper-movie-ever-made-20150922?page=2

They just had to use that photo of Berkley. Ugh.

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Don't make the mistake of thinking Showgirls is some unfairly judged piece of satire. It's not. It's a terrible movie with no redeeming qualities. Poor acting, poor script. There is nothing in it worth watching.

Hell, Demi Moore's Striptease is more worth while.

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Don't make the mistake of thinking Showgirls is some unfairly judged piece of satire. It's not. It's a terrible movie with no redeeming qualities. Poor acting, poor script. There is nothing in it worth watching.

Hell, Demi Moore's Striptease is more worth while.

This. So much.

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Not hugely. It's a very flawed movie. But I am a defender of Verhoeven, who been accused of everything from being a pervert, to a maniac.

I understand what Verhoeven was trying to do with the film,. And he probably succeeded marvellously in that. But I'm no fan of the film itself.

It's really little wonder Hollywood shut its doors afterwards is it.

Verhoeven made the fairly successful Starship Troopers afterwards, and The Hollow Man before Hollywood asked him to please go away.

And before that, there was Flesh and Blood, Robo Cop, Total Recall and Basic Instinct!

Don't make the mistake of thinking Showgirls is some unfairly judged piece of satire. It's not. It's a terrible movie with no redeeming qualities. Poor acting, poor script. There is nothing in it worth watching.

Hell, Demi Moore's Striptease is more worth while.

This. So much.

Yeah, Demi Moore and her artificially inseminated *sisters*.

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Don't make the mistake of thinking Showgirls is some unfairly judged piece of satire.

And don't make the mistake of thinking that it's not. It most definitely is, as confirmed by Verhoeven himself and as evidenced in the large number of critical analyses that have come out over the years. Fortunately, it's beginning to rise above the dismissals it received at the time (and that are still blossoming in certain circles, like nightscape's post).

Long live SHOWGIRLS!

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I might watch it with the gf tonight, see if I can "reappraise" it. I remember telling my old boss that Starship Troopers is a satire after he said to me it was "shit". When he eventually watched it again he still thought it was shit, and reckoned I was reading too much into it, more than it deserved.

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Showgirls is the low point of Veerhoven's career, but it's camp classic, satire or not. Joe Eszterhas's trashy script is endlessly quotable ("It must be weird, not having anybody cum on you", "I like nice tits. I always have, how about you?"), the soundtrack (Bowie, Siouxsie etc.) is top notch, and it's got Elizabeth Berkley dry humping.

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Elizabeth Berkley was fit as fuck and didn't deserve to have her movie career abruptly dressed-down by Showgirls. Another reason to object to its existence. I didn't see her turn up again till years later in Curb Your Enthusiasm, as a horny shop assistant.

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I've never wanted to watch Striptease either. I guess I'm just not interested in stripper stories.

Me neither.

But if I had to choose, I'd take Striptease over Showgirls or Magic Mike.

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Elizabeth Berkley was fit as fuck and didn't deserve to have her movie career abruptly dressed-down by Showgirls. Another reason to object to its existence. I didn't see her turn up again till years later in Curb Your Enthusiasm, as a horny shop assistant.

Shit I meant Gina Gershon.

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