User Reviews

If you like old fashioned musicals this is for you. Small town girl comes to Hollywood. In the tradition of "Cabaret" the music is performed in the venue rather then the characters bursting into song like dialogue. Unlike "Cabaret" the bad guys aren't Nazis, but unseen evil banks and real estate developers.

The story is thin, fluff, and predictable. The only thing stiffer then the dialogue is Cher's face. The musical numbers are high octane entertainment.

Christina Aguilera will be recognized by the Golden Globes for her performance and a song she wrote seems poised for an Academy Award. Stanly Tucci always looks like he is having fun.

It's not "Chicago". It doesn't measure up to the classic Hollywood musicals but it's a good try. See it.

A burlesque is basically a classy cabaret strip club where no private areas are shown, only teased. Christina Aguilera plays a stereotypical small town waitress girl who moves to the big city for a new opportunity, where she becomes a waitress (go figure) at a burlesque parlor. However, she soon discovers the beauty and fun that being a burlesque performer is. She auditions for a part, and once in, she starts to make changes to all involved while also trying to save the lounge from a financial crisis. This movie is a predictable and clichéd tale with mediocre acting from some, and superb acting from others. I could actually guess what was coming most of the time. Fortunately, this movie makes up for it's flaws with amazing performances in both dancing as well as singing, to the point that the performances almost seemed to become a character themselves.

Soundtrack: 10 Script: 4 Originality: 2 Cinematography: 8 Casting: 7 Acting: 5

Although "Burlesque" is set in what is basically a high-class strip club, it is a film on the hoary old theme of "A Star is Born" and treats its theme in a very traditional way, with no cliché left unturned. It starts by emphasising its heroine's humble background. Alice "Ali" Rose is an orphan from a working-class background in a small town in Iowa, where she works as a waitress. Like all girls from humble backgrounds in films of this type, Ali harbours longings for fame and fortune, so she gets on the bus to Los Angeles where she hopes to find work in showbiz.

Like all girls in films of this type who long for fame and fortune, Ali finds that they do not (at least at first) come easily. She auditions for a number of showbiz roles, only to be consistently rejected. She eventually finds work in a burlesque club, but only as a waitress, doing the same sort of work as she was doing in Iowa. Eventually, however, her persistence pays off and when one of the dancers becomes pregnant the club owner agrees to take Ali on as her replacement. And then- like all girls in films of this type- Ali gets her big break to become the star of the show, not just a backing dancer.

One might think that the above synopsis contains more than enough clichés for one film, but just about every character is a cliché in his or her own right. We have the heroine's tough, feisty boss (in this case a woman) who turns out to have a heart of gold. We have the heroine's jealous, bitchy rival who turns out to have no heart at all. We have the heroine's kindly best friend (here, in one of the film's few breaches with tradition, a gay man rather than another woman). And then we have the two men in the heroine's life, one poor but caring and sensitive, the other rich but selfish and materialistic. (No prizes for guessing which one turns out to be the heroine's true love).

"Burlesque" reminded me in some ways of "Showgirls", another film about a girl with showbiz ambitions who eventually lands the leading role in the sort of song-and-dance show whose performers wear as few clothes as possible. And yet, although "Showgirls" was almost universally panned by the critics, I actually preferred it- at least dramatically, if not musically- to "Burlesque". At least "Showgirls" had some sort of satirical value, achieved by making its leading character Nomi Malone a thoroughly nasty little slut with the morals of an alley cat. Ali, by contrast, is described by another character as "beautiful inside as well as out", and even though she earns her living by wearing revealing costumes and performing provocative dance routines comes across as just too sweet and wholesome to be true.

This film marked the debut of pop singer Christina Aguilera as an actress. She doesn't reveal too much talent in that direction, although to be fair to her any actress would have had difficulty in making Ali interesting, as she is less a character in her own right than a compendium of clichés drawn from every showbiz movie ever made. Xtina is also no worse than most of the others on display, including Cher (as club boss Tess), who has far more acting experience but whose contribution here won her a "worst supporting actress" Razzie nomination. Cher's main problem with acting these days appears to be her addiction to plastic surgery; her mask-live face, strangely smooth and unlined for a woman of 92 (or whatever age she is), is not the best instrument for expressing emotion. Kristen Bell as the heroine's bitchy, jealous rival Nikki is required to do little except adopt an angry, resentful expression every time Ali does anything. Stanley Tucci's role as the heroine's camp male best friend seemed to be a reprise of his similar role in "The Devil Wears Pravda", although in that film his character's homosexuality was not made explicit as it is here. Tucci appears to be getting typecast in roles like this, so I was surprised to learn that he is actually straight in real life.

"Burlesque" is a musical along the lines of "Cabaret" or "Fame", the sort where the characters only sing or dance in situations where people normally sing or dance in real life, and therefore demands a setting in the world of show-business. The song-and-dance numbers are all very professionally done, and whatever Aguilera's limitations as an actress she has a very fine voice, not only melodious but also powerful and expressive. In her musical numbers she was able to convey her character's emotions much more strongly than she could through her acting. Aguilera performs most of the songs, although Cher (also very expressive) contributes two. In one of them she strips down to a revealing costume to show us just what a fine figure she has for a woman of 117 (or whatever age she is). Oddly enough for an entertainer who is well-known both as a singer and as an actress, this was Cher's first cinematic musical.

The film's saving grace, and the one thing which prevents it from getting a lower mark, is that, musically speaking, it is actually not at all bad. Its great fault, and the thing which prevents it from getting a higher mark, is that, dramatically speaking, it is completely lacking in originality, a badly acted rehash of hackneyed themes from every showbiz film you've ever seen. It is a pity that the energy of the musical sequences could not have been put to use in the service of a better story. 5/10

This movie wore out both my BS detector and my suspension of disbelief.

It should be prosecuted under the Trades Description Act, and sued by Rob Marshall and the estate of Bob Fosse for plagiarism. Because it ain't burlesque, and it rips off too many elements from Marshall's film of "Chicago" and Fosse's choreography, for me to count.

This movie is as true a glimpse of the real burlesque scene, as "Showgirls" was of the real traditional Vegas showgirl scene. But "Showgirls" had a slightly more believable plot.

Here's a suggestion for Steve Antin: How about making a movie called "Girl Group", with only one musical number in it? After all, you've given us a movie called "Burlesque" with only ONE actual burlesque number in it. The rest is just a rip-off of your sister's Pussycat Dolls routines. Especially that final number. THAT was the song that took so long for the hero to write??? THAT was the song that was so deeply personal that he couldn't share it with anyone until he felt it was perfect??? No wonder my BS detector wore out.

The costumes are gorgeous (hence the 3 stars from me), but they're the only things that made this movie remotely tolerable. And the camera never held still long enough for me to get a really good look at them. (Note to all directors: If you're spending that much on costumes, for god's sake, let us see them and appreciate them!) Also, as someone who is active in the burlesque scene, I must point out that merely wearing a burlesque style costume does NOT make someone into a burlesque performer any more than wearing spike heels and a miniskirt makes a nun into a streetwalker.

Vocally, Christina Aguilera and Cher both have amazing voices. But does every song they sing have to be a power-ballad with all those full-out wails and cadenzas? Enough, already! Those songs and vocal gymnastics lose their dramatic power when they're all we ever get to hear.

All in all, "Burlesque" was 2 hours of my life that I won't be getting back.

First of all; I didn't know what to expect from this feature. I hoped it would be fun to watch at least. Normally I would discard the idea of watching a movie featuring singers in the leads.

But I was pleasantly surprised to say the least.

As a whole, the film was beautifully shot, the costumes, set decors were all wonderful. Christina Aguilera was never prettier than in this picture.

Concerning Aguilera, I was blown away by her acting (not implying it was Oscar worthy), for the simple, fresh and down-to-earth character, she put out there. She was believable as this nice country girl destined for bigger things - if you know Aguilera's life story, you know what I mean. And she pulled it off to a 't'.

Also a nice refreshing thing this movie did, in my opinion: were the core values it expressed. Although show business, and especially burlesque dancing, have a way of being over-the-top sexy and sometimes promiscuous. A typical story in that setting could have had more sleazy behavior, sleeping around, back-stabbing and such. But no. Even the antagonists had a way of being somewhat nice and apologetic in their own ways.

The clichéd rivalry has a place in this, but although being a cliché in itself it never becomes cliché as itself. You would expect dangerous backstabbing. It never happens like that.

At the end there even is a little plot twist, concerning the fate of the club. It's a semi twist. But it works.

Although I am enthusiastic and glad to have seen this, there is a huge plot hole, I was concerned with. Halfway through the movie Ali saves the show by beginning to sing. It's pretty clear that the mics aren't working, it being a playback show. But still there are mics on stage. So if we forget this one hole, there is an immediate second hole. As if she has a hidden portable mic she is singing, passing the mics to the front of the stage, being completely audible for everyone present. Which isn't plausible.

That said, I had a truly great time watching this. It certainly the best in it's genre (a musical romantic drama).

Certainly worth your time, if you like this sort of thing.

After a lonely, lowly, spirited amateur dancer defiantly discards her mundane life in Iowa in search of a more exciting existence pursuing her stage talents, she stumbles across a sensually stylish yet struggling Burlesque club in Los Angeles. Struck immediately by its raunchy grandeur and by the promises it holds for an aspiring performer such as herself, she strives relentlessly to become one of its members. Director Steve Antin handles these early developments with more subtlety and believability than is the norm for films with similar plot lines, allowing us to see the things from the protagonists point of view whilst also comfortably accepting that we may not wish to feel the same way about it, seeing as we have only just been introduced to the girl. As she ventures into this corner of showbiz our mindsets are naturally entwined with hers. Together we encounter the various colourful characters of the club, and see the way they are all either a help, a hindrance or a bystander during her climb from being a simple waitress thanks to the help of a spunky, good-hearted bartender, to becoming their main attraction thanks in part to the clumsy sabotaging of a clearly incompetent rival. The aforementioned depictions, making up the first part of the film, are most definitely a lush and exciting piece of work, densely endowed with engaging and involving occurrences, finely crafted scenes of dialogue and sprinklings of tuneful glamour and romantic decadence. After this it then proceeds in a less fulsome, but still entertaining fashion, focusing mainly on the love life of the girl, named Ali, and the dramas involved in the club's financial problems. In the end this subject matter proves to be considerably less sustainable than that explored earlier, and consequently, the musical aspect it turned up a notch, and the numbers grow in frequency and extravagance. Yet despite the thinness and tackiness, the later scenes do still carry that same undeniable charm and emotional value seen before, and so you feel you just have to love this film no matter what, and the explosive toe-tapping finale is very satisfying. So despite the obvious wantonness, memorability and fun is always ensured by the film's much more prominent merits: stupendous songs, the gorgeous visual package, the attractive premise, and of course the well- oiled cast, in which Christina Aguilera, Cam Digandet, Cher and Stanley Tucci are especially brilliant. In short, Burlesque is on feeling a masterpiece, but on reflection a misfire: the point being that if you don't overthink it you'll have the time of your life.

Raise the curtain! Before heading to watch thiz movie, I already had my own imagination about how the story would look like, I thought maybe it revolved around a countryside girl who was about to try her luck to chase her dream in a big city (eventually the city is Los Angeles and the girl's name is Ali which is played by Christina Aguilera), maybe she would start from a cloistered but extraordinary nite club (apparently it named Burlesque), maybe she would have a tough beginning for her career and there would be such a mentor for her (I talk about Cher), maybe she was going to meet her love interest, a pretty boy with an attitude (I talk about Cam Gigandet), or maybe she would be forced to quarrel with her envious evil colleague as well (I talk about Kristen Bell). And for the ending I don't have to explain, I give it to you to figure it out yourself, I am pretty sure that you have already know the ending as well, and you are right! In the tradition of "Coyote Ugly" (2000) and Rob Marshall's movies such as "Chicago" (2002) and "Nine" (2009), here it comes a new breed of the genre. The movie is second directing effort after "Glass House: The Good Mother" (2006) by former child star of "The Goonies" (1985), Steve Antin. Thiz Ali's character is obviously made for Aguilera, it's like let a fish swims freely into the sea. It flows naturally. Cher is a legendary music icon who makes one dimensional impression, there is no specific chemistry with other Cast members, she seems to be talking to herself. Cam Gigandet, after seeing his macho performance previously in "Never Back Down" (2008), thiz time he plays more easy-going and fun role. But the worst of the worst is Kristen Bell who delivers a horrible nightmare performance, it's not convincing at all as Ali's competitor. Better performances come from Stanley Tucci, Eric Dane and Allan Cumming. Forget about the Actors, the film once again is an Aguilera's playground. Her powerful voice covers up all the flaws. The opening song "Something's Got a Hold on Me" is my favorite with gratifying 1970s Rock 'n' Roll tune. With all those fabulous songs, it comes to my mind why there isn't one single duet song from these two world class performers. Anyway, the dancing and cabaret performances are splendid. Aguilera's performance is very hypnotic and spectacular. In fact, who doesn't want to pay small nite club's cheap ticket that there is a performance from Christina Aguilera. Hello? It is Christina Aguilera on the stage! The story is predictable and the conflict is cliché. It doesn't look like a movie after all. By the way, I didn't come home from a movie. I had just come home from Christina Aguilera's concert. And I am happy! ^_^

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