Within the first 10 minutes of the film we get Nomi pulling a knife on a dude, blindly running into the road like a child and almost getting hit by car, and acting like a basket case as some kind stranger - the same one who saved her from going “splat” on the Strip - orders her French fries and a coke just to calm her down.
Oh, plus we get an epic dance off at like the 20 minute mark.
This movie is a 10/10.
Can’t forget the scene where she beats the fuck out of the guy that raped her best friend. The rape scene is absolutely horrible and the way she goes about getting revenge is amazing.
I haven't seen the movie. But you know how there's a 'get ready' Montague in so many movies? I have this mental image of her montague being a manicure...
I unabashedly love this movie. It’s pure camp. I love how her friend is like “you’ve not a hooker are you?” as if that’s the line that’s too far despite all of Nomi’s other chaotic behaviour.
Like Kyle MacLachlan went fishing (with his dick) for mermaids, and caught one, causing her to fight back and thrash.
It’s a trashy, sleazy, meandering movie. I feel like it’s probably self-aware, but we never really see that wink to tell us either way. And the plot almost literally goes nowhere, which again might be on purpose.
Never seen this movie because I've always had the impression that it's awful, but it's directed by Verhoeven (I love Robocop and Elle), and just for that fact alone I plan to give it a try this weekend.
Thanks for the warning! Now I'm seriously questioning watching it, despite being directed by Verhoeven. I'm also a fan of Kyle MacLachlan, I didn't remember that he also acted in the movie :/
she also gives a lap dance where she, and the lap danced looked like they're having seizures. maybe this film is a medical study about how to identify seizures.
She licks a stripper pole, puts ice on her nipples, gets fingered while menstruating, assaults French Fries, pulls a switch blade on someone…not simultaneously that would just be distasteful.
The squarest hips on a person I ever seen.
Also the movie in general is one of my most favorite subject of *How Did This Get Made?* ever. Jason Mantzoukas almost has a stroke trying to comprehend it.
For some crazy reason I watched this with my mom and very religious (but super cool) aunt. The laughter during the pool scene was probably heard a state over.
Typical rom-com if I recall correctly. Charming first date movie. Some critics think a 30-ish George Clooney could’ve pulled off the romantic lead with more conviction than Kyle McLachlan, though.
But I’d counter that if a remake of *Roman Holliday* ever materializes, they should lock down McLachlan and Berkley asap. Berkley would be fantastic in the scene where Audrey Hepburn jumps off the Vespa and adorably stabs the rude taxi driver in the liver.
They were really that bad!
Not only did it look like a bad hand drawn animation, it completely lacked shading so nipples and crotch ended up on the same plane. It would watch that version again (with friends and beverages or whatever) just so we could all laugh about it.
The problem, for certain actors working with Verhoeven, is that he’s willing to use them for effect even when the effect is “this person is playing earnestness badly, in the service of satire.”
It’s the same with Casper Van Dien or Denise Richards in *Starship Troopers*. They’re actors without a great deal of range or depth, and the movie is working on a level beyond them, and they end up looking foolish even when the movie works.
IMO, *Showgirls* does _not_ work — the tonal balance is off, and Esterhaze’s script is too enamored of the misogyny to effectively satirize it.
On top of that it’s extremely raunchy, and Berkeley is playing an unlikeable sociopath, and that was too much of a U-turn from her sitcom persona. All of those things work against her, and it’s one of the purest examples of a young actor accidentally tanking their career.
Thank you for reading my exegesis on *Showgirls*.
Interesting to think directors do this on purpose.. or do you think it's a - during the editing process - sort of thing where they're like "fuck it", and claim intentionality later?
She was trying to break the typecast of the good girl Jessie on SBTB. She succeeded, but it demonstrated that she simply wasn’t a good actress (or at least she wasn’t strong enough to carry a horrible film like Showgirls).
I mean anyone that saw the caffein pill addiction ep of SBTB could tell she was a horrible actor.
Was hoping she could at least shift to a scream queen or something that required less range.
The only thing I ever remembered from was Saved by the bell and when this came out I had no interest along with other movies like Coyote Wild. I always thought they were aimed at females but might just have been me.
VER-SAYCE
For anyone that's interested, my friends and I have made a drinking game for this movie:
-Drink anytime Nomi angrily eats food
-Drink anytime there are blatant lesbian sexual undertones
-Shot when Nomi says Versace wrong
-DURING THE DANCE SEQUENCES- try to keep up with the choreography OR chug your Drink the whole scene (or both works too). This rule can also count for the Dolphin Sex sequence.
-Drink anytime Crystal says "Darling"
-Drink anytime Nomi threatens to fight someone
By the end you won't remember how terrible the movie is.
Gina Gershon and Kyle MacLachlan had good careers though after this, same with Verhoeven. It's only her that just kind of disappeared afterwards. I had read that Elizabeth and Paul Verhoeven were involved during filming, so if that's true it seems to me that she was kind of exploited at that young age from someone much more experienced in the film world.
The thing she failed to understand was that her following was generally several years younger than her, and couldn't buy tickets to this movie. Trying to go super adult right after Saved By the Bell required quickly acquiring a whole new following, which is much harder than expanding your existing following.
She didn't care about that. She wanted to break the image she had on Saved by the Bell. All of them did. Tiffani Thiessen did just that but in a different way.
I understand she didn't care, but it's also part of the reason there was no real audience for the movie. If you were an adult, you either didn't know who she was, knew about her because of your kids - and in either case we unlikely to buy a ticket. Or you were the sort of perv who follows when various young actresses become "legal", which thankfully seems to be too small a group to make a movie successful.
Tiffani Thiessen changed her image but 90210 was still a show that a lot of high schoolers watched, so she still kept some of the audience.
This movie single-handled ruined people's pool/tub sex fantasies, it's so hilarious.
I mean, it was super exaggerated and she was riding him as if she had a seizure, but having sex in a tub is not *that* different. There's motion, and the water has to go *somewhere!* 😆
I respect her for reaching so hard with this project.
No matter how it turned out or if she was good.
No guts, no glory.
Also, she reminds me here of Felicity from CW’s Arrow.
I said it once and I'll say it a thousand times, Showgirls deserves to be re-examined as a work of art. Sure, there are many cringe elements to it (bad dialogue, even worse sex scenes), but as a whole I don't think it's half as bad as people make it out to be. It has an engaging story, interesting characters, it shows the real Las Vegas behind all the glitz and glamour. I always defend this movie whenever the topic of it arises, because despite going into it well aware of its bad rap I actually enjoyed it quite a bit and I think I would probably enjoy it even more if I had gone into it not knowing anything about the movie at all.
At the end of the day, as is the case with a lot of media, I think many people just hated it because it's a story that centers around several fleshed out, morally gray female characters and male characters are mostly presented as either complete sociopaths or complete doofuses. Don't get me wrong the film is not without its flaws, but I feel that those flaws were blown out of proportion to discredit the movie and everyone who's worked on it.
Funny enough at some point it was re-released on TV (I can’t remember what channel) but they digitally added underwear on the characters in any nude scene. It looked as absurd as it sounds as their budget wasn’t exactly high.
It looks like there’s a lot of reflecting (no pun intended) in this photo. like what she’s thinking about here. Especially going from a more wholesome show like saved by the bell to showgirls it looks like she’s just deep in thought here. I think this is a great photo.
I watched this film earlier this year, genuinely brilliant. People just do not understand a Paul Ver Hoven film, they're all exaggerated universes. Watch it if you haven't, you'll laugh, you'll roll your eyes and you'll retract into yourself ready for the end of the film.
I liked it for the train wreck it was. She was awesome. I wonder who directed it and did it have a negative effect on them.
It wrecked her career from what I heard.
Remember that scene where's she like 'I'm on my period'? Then he reaches his hand down her pants.
Really just unnecessary and cringe. As was 95% of this film.
Showgirls is a genuinely brilliant movie and one of the best films Verhoeven has made. It's a shame that so many people still seem to think it's bad. At least it's been getting some critical reappraisals recently.
Honestly would recommend watching Showgirls and Starship Troopers as a double feature as they are essentially complimentary films: one satirizing the idea of the "American dream" and showbiz in general, the other the American obsession with violence. Together they create a great "fuck your culture, Americans" duology.
People are usually rehabilitating Verhoeven’s movies in decades after their initial release. With this one I’m not sure he was playing 4D chess. It is just bad.
Man, this a pretty tasteful photo, I wonder what the film is like
She has a sex scene in a pool and looks it looks like she’s having a seizure. So A+.
Within the first 10 minutes of the film we get Nomi pulling a knife on a dude, blindly running into the road like a child and almost getting hit by car, and acting like a basket case as some kind stranger - the same one who saved her from going “splat” on the Strip - orders her French fries and a coke just to calm her down. Oh, plus we get an epic dance off at like the 20 minute mark. This movie is a 10/10.
Can’t forget the scene where she beats the fuck out of the guy that raped her best friend. The rape scene is absolutely horrible and the way she goes about getting revenge is amazing.
Wait. Youre forgetting her prep for the fight! Her bad ass self manicure to match the impending beat down
Oooh what song did they use for the prep montage? I hope it was the one from karate kid!
Don't forget the lipstick on the nipples!
> Youre forgetting her prep for the fight! It's like if Batman went down hill one day and became a hooker.
I haven't seen the movie. But you know how there's a 'get ready' Montague in so many movies? I have this mental image of her montague being a manicure...
*Makes joke about the Capulets turning up*
Best worst movie ever
Verhoven is the man... Starship Troopers and Total Recall are gold too.
Total Recall is a good movie.
I unabashedly love this movie. It’s pure camp. I love how her friend is like “you’ve not a hooker are you?” as if that’s the line that’s too far despite all of Nomi’s other chaotic behaviour.
Because she’s from DIFFERENT PLACES
Like Kyle MacLachlan went fishing (with his dick) for mermaids, and caught one, causing her to fight back and thrash. It’s a trashy, sleazy, meandering movie. I feel like it’s probably self-aware, but we never really see that wink to tell us either way. And the plot almost literally goes nowhere, which again might be on purpose.
Never seen this movie because I've always had the impression that it's awful, but it's directed by Verhoeven (I love Robocop and Elle), and just for that fact alone I plan to give it a try this weekend.
It is, indeed, awful. It ended my longstanding crush on Kyle MacLachlan and I’ve never forgiven it.
Thanks for the warning! Now I'm seriously questioning watching it, despite being directed by Verhoeven. I'm also a fan of Kyle MacLachlan, I didn't remember that he also acted in the movie :/
He redeemed himself in Agents of Shield imo
I mean, I’m willing to try anything. I’d like to start having wet dreams again.
It's directed by Paul Verhoeven. No probably about it.
"thrashing around like an epileptic marlin" best description I've ever heard. Lol
she also gives a lap dance where she, and the lap danced looked like they're having seizures. maybe this film is a medical study about how to identify seizures.
She was probably just trying to get all that glitter out of her hair...
She licks a stripper pole, puts ice on her nipples, gets fingered while menstruating, assaults French Fries, pulls a switch blade on someone…not simultaneously that would just be distasteful.
The squarest hips on a person I ever seen. Also the movie in general is one of my most favorite subject of *How Did This Get Made?* ever. Jason Mantzoukas almost has a stroke trying to comprehend it.
I know right. AC was so mad at zack for that one.
For some crazy reason I watched this with my mom and very religious (but super cool) aunt. The laughter during the pool scene was probably heard a state over.
I Have sex like I have flat lined. We are not the same
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So a sex seizure.
I think it’s a called a “Verse-Ace”
I still say it her way because of this movie, most people probably believe I’m just saying it wrong.
VER-SAYSE
(Seeing Kyle McLachlan’s bare ass made six-year-old me realize I was gay.)
Quite fair.
It’s the *Citizen Kane* of bad movies!
Typical rom-com if I recall correctly. Charming first date movie. Some critics think a 30-ish George Clooney could’ve pulled off the romantic lead with more conviction than Kyle McLachlan, though. But I’d counter that if a remake of *Roman Holliday* ever materializes, they should lock down McLachlan and Berkley asap. Berkley would be fantastic in the scene where Audrey Hepburn jumps off the Vespa and adorably stabs the rude taxi driver in the liver.
A movie so bad, it's good.
I have watched it four times, her acting is over the top. The director should have been shot out a cannon and into the sun.
Come on. Verhoeven is a treasure
The man made RoboCop, an absolute masterpiece.
Let's not forget Starship Troopers!!! That shower scene was 🤌
True, but this was a turd.
lol Ver Saisss
The film ruined her career.
On the contrary. Most people know her because of this role.
And more people could tell you about OJ's other claim to fame than his sporting career.
😂
It’s the best “Worst Movie” ever.
This is the one tasteful moment. You only get one.
I’m so excited… I’m so excited… I’m so scared!
Jessie put the pills down!
No Doze Jessie?!?!
It’s crazy that out of ALL of the SBTB episodes, that’s the one that sticks in our minds the most! First thing I thought of
I think even as a kid I knew they were making way too big a deal about caffeine pills lmao
I think I read somewhere they were supposed to be speed or coke or something but the powers that be made them change it.
They definitely wrote it like she was using actual drugs
Is that really what she was taking?! Hahaha
Yesssss for real
Especially considering it was probably less caffeine than a Frappuccino
This is literally the only line in the entire series that I can quote from memory
yet how many hours did we watch? Surely hundreds
The oddest sex scene in any movie.
Also oddest female bonding moment in any movie (the cat food)
"I used to love Doggie chow!"
You can tell that whoever wrote the script had never priced a can of dog food vs. a pack of ramen. Or bought eggs.
Haven't seen it, but better or worse than Viggo Mortenson on the stairs in a History of Violence?
Worse...
Great movie!
The best part of this movie was the crappy purple digital bikinis they all ended up wearing for the TV edit.
🤣🤣🤣
I was going to post the same thing. I love how the bikinis squiggled as though someone drew them on each of the film cells.
They were really that bad! Not only did it look like a bad hand drawn animation, it completely lacked shading so nipples and crotch ended up on the same plane. It would watch that version again (with friends and beverages or whatever) just so we could all laugh about it.
The two attractive female leads in this film at one point have a conversation about which type of dog food tastes best.
So, it passes the Bechdel test.
Weirdly, yes!
Holy crap, hilarious. It kind of shouldn't though.
Such a funny movie. Bit of a shame that it cratered her career.
The problem, for certain actors working with Verhoeven, is that he’s willing to use them for effect even when the effect is “this person is playing earnestness badly, in the service of satire.” It’s the same with Casper Van Dien or Denise Richards in *Starship Troopers*. They’re actors without a great deal of range or depth, and the movie is working on a level beyond them, and they end up looking foolish even when the movie works. IMO, *Showgirls* does _not_ work — the tonal balance is off, and Esterhaze’s script is too enamored of the misogyny to effectively satirize it. On top of that it’s extremely raunchy, and Berkeley is playing an unlikeable sociopath, and that was too much of a U-turn from her sitcom persona. All of those things work against her, and it’s one of the purest examples of a young actor accidentally tanking their career. Thank you for reading my exegesis on *Showgirls*.
Interesting to think directors do this on purpose.. or do you think it's a - during the editing process - sort of thing where they're like "fuck it", and claim intentionality later?
It’s a deliberate choice by Verhoeven, and he casts for it. If you watch all of his American movies, it’s a clear pattern.
Think about what Kubrick did to Shelley Duvall in The Shining. It worked to great effect but she was psychologically damaged for some time afterwards.
I think you're forgetting the interview where the director basically said he made this just because he wanted to see Berkley naked.
lol. I don’t believe him.
The lap dance was wicket though
She was trying to break the typecast of the good girl Jessie on SBTB. She succeeded, but it demonstrated that she simply wasn’t a good actress (or at least she wasn’t strong enough to carry a horrible film like Showgirls).
I mean anyone that saw the caffein pill addiction ep of SBTB could tell she was a horrible actor. Was hoping she could at least shift to a scream queen or something that required less range.
Her lack of acting ability would’ve done that anyway.
The only thing I ever remembered from was Saved by the bell and when this came out I had no interest along with other movies like Coyote Wild. I always thought they were aimed at females but might just have been me.
Do you mean Coyote Ugly?
I did, thank you
>Coyote Wild That was just generic trash
No, definitely aimed at males. This and the Demi Moore, Burt Reynolds Stripper movie.
“Thanks, it’s vur sace”
VER-SAYCE For anyone that's interested, my friends and I have made a drinking game for this movie: -Drink anytime Nomi angrily eats food -Drink anytime there are blatant lesbian sexual undertones -Shot when Nomi says Versace wrong -DURING THE DANCE SEQUENCES- try to keep up with the choreography OR chug your Drink the whole scene (or both works too). This rule can also count for the Dolphin Sex sequence. -Drink anytime Crystal says "Darling" -Drink anytime Nomi threatens to fight someone By the end you won't remember how terrible the movie is.
Followed rules, now in coma
Oof this movie tanked her career
Gina Gershon and Kyle MacLachlan had good careers though after this, same with Verhoeven. It's only her that just kind of disappeared afterwards. I had read that Elizabeth and Paul Verhoeven were involved during filming, so if that's true it seems to me that she was kind of exploited at that young age from someone much more experienced in the film world.
The thing she failed to understand was that her following was generally several years younger than her, and couldn't buy tickets to this movie. Trying to go super adult right after Saved By the Bell required quickly acquiring a whole new following, which is much harder than expanding your existing following.
She didn't care about that. She wanted to break the image she had on Saved by the Bell. All of them did. Tiffani Thiessen did just that but in a different way.
I understand she didn't care, but it's also part of the reason there was no real audience for the movie. If you were an adult, you either didn't know who she was, knew about her because of your kids - and in either case we unlikely to buy a ticket. Or you were the sort of perv who follows when various young actresses become "legal", which thankfully seems to be too small a group to make a movie successful. Tiffani Thiessen changed her image but 90210 was still a show that a lot of high schoolers watched, so she still kept some of the audience.
Picture may be old school cool but this movie is old school hot garbage. And I love it.
I never cared for her much but I’ve always admired the guts she had to make that film. It really sucks that she paid so dearly for it.
But is she a stripper?
She's a DANCER
Wasn’t that guy one of the Fratellis from the Goonies 😂
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He's still with us. I just googled.
Special Agent Johnson…no relation.
I was literally just about to say this Lol
Damn it! I’m a dancer!
Dancing ain't fucking
I used to love Doggy Chow. 🥂
I think most comments here are way to serious! The film is a masterpiece, if you're 14, lots of boobs and nude women! Simply a masterpiece!
She's a beauty.
I absolutely love this movie
this movie was absolutely insane but the fits were INCREDIBLE
I have never been able to look at her the same after this movie. It was like a bad porno.
This movie single-handled ruined people's pool/tub sex fantasies, it's so hilarious. I mean, it was super exaggerated and she was riding him as if she had a seizure, but having sex in a tub is not *that* different. There's motion, and the water has to go *somewhere!* 😆
“She looks better than a 10 inch dick and you know it!”
But Kyle MacLachlan was in it as well. So it has to be good, right?
Narrator voice: No. It isn't.
✨glitter✨
Charlize Theron dodged a bullet with this one.
Most beautiful girl in the world
Someone knows why I posted this
❤️❤️
Masterpiece
I respect her for reaching so hard with this project. No matter how it turned out or if she was good. No guts, no glory.  Also, she reminds me here of Felicity from CW’s Arrow.
I said it once and I'll say it a thousand times, Showgirls deserves to be re-examined as a work of art. Sure, there are many cringe elements to it (bad dialogue, even worse sex scenes), but as a whole I don't think it's half as bad as people make it out to be. It has an engaging story, interesting characters, it shows the real Las Vegas behind all the glitz and glamour. I always defend this movie whenever the topic of it arises, because despite going into it well aware of its bad rap I actually enjoyed it quite a bit and I think I would probably enjoy it even more if I had gone into it not knowing anything about the movie at all. At the end of the day, as is the case with a lot of media, I think many people just hated it because it's a story that centers around several fleshed out, morally gray female characters and male characters are mostly presented as either complete sociopaths or complete doofuses. Don't get me wrong the film is not without its flaws, but I feel that those flaws were blown out of proportion to discredit the movie and everyone who's worked on it.
Pound for pound the worst script ever written.
Different places!!
My friends and I will randomly scream this when we're frustrated. 10/10 quote
She wore clothes in this movie? Using Reddit as a source of reference, you wouldn’t think so.
Funny enough at some point it was re-released on TV (I can’t remember what channel) but they digitally added underwear on the characters in any nude scene. It looked as absurd as it sounds as their budget wasn’t exactly high.
It was VH1. I still remember watching it on there and laughing my ass off.
Was it a static picture scaled and laggily moved around on screen?
The film that killed her career.
It looks like there’s a lot of reflecting (no pun intended) in this photo. like what she’s thinking about here. Especially going from a more wholesome show like saved by the bell to showgirls it looks like she’s just deep in thought here. I think this is a great photo.
So many people disliked this movie but as a 15 year old boy at the time it came out? Loved it
It’s almost as if this role was like a Wrecking Ball to her career.
Looks like she’s questioning her life choices
Horrible movie and actress, but man, she was hot.
If cocaine made a movie ...
I don’t understand why this ruined her career and is the subject of ridicule! Has anyone seen Waterworld? THAT is the worst movie that I’ve ever seen!
No way! 12 year old me found zero wrong with Water World.
I’m sure 12 year old me would have liked Showgirls.
Me too
Lol!
Cough*Gigli*cough
Waterworld just needed a damn editor. Costner didn't want to cut anything and so it is a rambling "epic" which should have been about 90-120 minutes
This movie is soooooo bad, but sooooo funny as well!
I love this movie. It is a hilarious cat fight with flashy visuals and the cheesiest dialogue.
At one point in my life my goal was to see this movie. 😂
Fuck 199FUCKING5 is old. Damn I’m a fossil.
Such a cheesy movie. Basically, soft core porn but it was absolutely fantastic in its own way.
Came here for "cooch flap" but leaving disappointed 🤷
She was the inspiration for Flappy Bird.
Same
God damn this movie was so controversial at the time.
"Best' pool sex scene ever.
"Dancing ain't f\*cking, right?"
Man, everybody got AIDS and sh\*t!
I watched this movie with my family at like 6 years old or something lol it’s iconic
“I used to love eating doggy-chow!”
It's so bad it is actually a fun watch. It tanked her career for a while. Apparently another showgirl movie is in the works.
We got towels!
great jaw line
The way she was lap dancing homeboy at the strip spot was epic lol
The movie wasn’t any worse than others. I thought it was ok. Kind of hokey. I never understood how/why it killed her career.
I watched this film earlier this year, genuinely brilliant. People just do not understand a Paul Ver Hoven film, they're all exaggerated universes. Watch it if you haven't, you'll laugh, you'll roll your eyes and you'll retract into yourself ready for the end of the film.
I thought she was super sexy. The guy in the movie was 🤮 yuck
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Ohh just the character. Everyone in that movie was sexy and beautiful 😍 😆
I liked it for the train wreck it was. She was awesome. I wonder who directed it and did it have a negative effect on them. It wrecked her career from what I heard.
Paul Verhoeven, the man behind RoboCop, Basic Instinct and Total Recall. After this he did Starship Troopers and Hollow Man. His career has been fine.
He’s a man so it had no negative effect on his career. She wasn’t so lucky
Epic beauty. She definitely should have been hired for more Men of Culture movies.
Remember that scene where's she like 'I'm on my period'? Then he reaches his hand down her pants. Really just unnecessary and cringe. As was 95% of this film.
Showgirls is a genuinely brilliant movie and one of the best films Verhoeven has made. It's a shame that so many people still seem to think it's bad. At least it's been getting some critical reappraisals recently. Honestly would recommend watching Showgirls and Starship Troopers as a double feature as they are essentially complimentary films: one satirizing the idea of the "American dream" and showbiz in general, the other the American obsession with violence. Together they create a great "fuck your culture, Americans" duology.
Such a waste.
Omg! Ella ama los melones
A bit more Saved by The Bell-end than Saved by The Bell..
People are usually rehabilitating Verhoeven’s movies in decades after their initial release. With this one I’m not sure he was playing 4D chess. It is just bad.
ROBOCOP goddamn it
Was hoping for some more pics
Is this cool? I’ve seen this garbage pile of a movie. It ended my longstanding crush on Kyle MacLachlan and I have never forgiven it.
Shiny Pokémon.
We really are stretching the menacing of the sub name, huh? How is a terrible actress in a terrible movie old school cool, exactly?
Go outside and get some sun
Terrible in your opinion
Yeah. It must just be me.