Showgirls (1995)

Erotic drama from the writer and director of Basic Instinct (1992), starring Elizabeth Berkley as Nomi Malone, a “dancing” hopeful who arrives in glittering Las Vegas and becomes caught up in the sleazy sex-and-drugs world of shady entrepreneur Zack Carey (Kyle MacLachlan).

According to director Paul Verhoeven (Starship Troopers), this controversial and much-reviled showbiz exposé is an incisive look at sleazy Las Vegas life. To almost everyone else, it is an instant kitsch classic that charts the rise of small-town girl Berkley from tawdry lap dancer to famed topless revue headliner.

Practically nothing works in this tacky sashay through Valley of the Dolls (1967) clichés and unerotic burlesque. Apart from head showgirl Gina Gershon, everyone is miscast and the end result is nothing more than a posh sexploitation flick with tarnished good intentions.

Nomi Malone
Elizabeth Berkley
Zack Carey
Kyle MacLachlan
Cristal Connors
Gina Gershon
James Smith
Glenn Plummer
Al Torres
Robert Davi
Tony Moss
Alan Rachins

Director
Paul Verhoeven