Yes, despite scathing reviews that could curl the toes of an Ork, my SO and I, along with a visiting friend, went to see the new film, “Burlesque”, starring Cher, Christine Aquilera and others.
We all liked it.
Yes, the plot is thin and dramatic conflict slight, and while there are few, if any, songs you will hum on the way out of the movie theater, it was an entertaining diversion. If any straight guys are dragged along by girlfriends/wives/mistresses to see it, I think they will not be bored with a bunch of women stripping on stage for an hour and 40 minutes.
Cher had a couple of solos that were not spectacular, but hey - it is Cher singing and she still looks damned good for her age, so no complaints there. Christine Aguilera did a good acting job and, of course, her singing was excellent. The supporting cast did a decent job of keeping the story moving along.
Some great sets, nice scenery and location shot in and around LA - although one little nitpick that is certainly not a spoiler - when the new girl hits town with nothing more than a small suitcase, picture of mom and a few bucks, she gets a room at a dive hotel called “Hotel Roosevelt”. Ha! That is a historical building, recently renovated and has a pool painted by the artist David Hockney. I seriously doubt you would get even the smallest room there for under $150 a night. But if you are not from LA, you wouldn’t know it, so hardly a huge error.
Still - if you like musicals, dance numbers, contrived but entertaining plots about showgirls and theater, you should like this film a lot.
Fourth fag who loved it chiming in. There’s basically no actual female nudity. In true burlesque while the costumes may be skimpy there’s always something covering the naughty bits. Even when the dancer’s nude feathers, shadow, or just having her not face the audience obscures her tits, minge, or ass. Cam Gigandet has a delightful nude scene that I found surprisingly revealing for a PG-13 film. Gotta love it when they get a hot guy naked and play it up for both laughs and eroticness. It’s pretty clear the film makers knew damn well who their target audiance is.
The film is (obviously) not for everyone - but as long as you go in knowing it is entertaining fluff, and unlikely Oscar material - you’ll have a good time.
It’s just not my cup of tea. I’m not going to trash it for anybody else. I’m sure there are movies I like that you would find unwatchable. It sounds like this is a movie that succeeds at entertaining its target audience. I’m just not part of that audience.
How does Cher do in the movie? Isn’t she in her 70’s now? Does it show?
Physically, looks damned good. Musically, well - there was one note that was…let’s just say it was good we had a plastic cup for our Diet Coke instead of glass that would have cracked in many places. Otherwise, very much Cher, in Cher style, a la Cher. Like many divas of that age, she can get away with a lot simply through presentation and moxie.
Haven’t seen the movie yet, but I’ll probably love it, if only because Cher is in it. But there are an amazing number of gay things that I don’t like (I cannot stand Bette Midler or Patti LuPone, and no, I’m not giving back my toaster).
And Cher is 64 (internally). I think part of her exterior is made of stem cells.
I thought, from the thread title, that Three Gay Guys was a movie review site or something. I just might have to put this in my Netflix queue when it comes out on video.
I don’t do theaters much anymore.
Other random gay guy chiming in to say he didn’t like it. The music was pretty bad, the story was wafer-thin, and who cares about mostly-nude chicks?
That said, it wasn’t AS BAD as I thought it would be. The acting is decent and the plot moves along at a relatively speedy clip and at no point did I find it physically painful to watch.
This doesn’t come out in Australia until JANUARY (argh) so I have an agonising wait but I did buy the soundtrack the other day. I would watch Cher in anything at all, she could be sitting reading the newspaper eating a bit of toast and I’d have an excitement-induced seizure.
The soundtrack is good, I really like Cher’s big power ballad moment, and Christina’s songs are maybe the best bunch of tracks she’s done since about 2002.
My mother and I were watching some show and it had a Burlesque preview and she said “That looks awful” and I said “I know, I can’t wait!” - part of the fun of a movie like this is taking bets on how bad it will be. If it’s actually great then I suppose that’ll be alright too.
Went and saw the movie Burlesque last night with Cher and Christina Aguilera. I had a pretty shitty day at work, and needed something to take my mind off of stuff, so I figured this would be a light hearted movie that would maybe have some good movies.
I walked out in a much much better mood. I thought it was a great movie with some really good music. Sure it had a few hiccups along the way, but overall I had a great time, which is all I really ask from a movie.
For the most part, the music numbers fit into the movie smoothly, there was one number by Cher, that while a good number, seemed to be shoe-horned into the movie just to give her another musical number. The Deux ex machina at the end was at least foreshadowed intelligently and didn’t slap you over the head with the ending.
The music was great, the dancing a lot of fun. Girls in skimpy costumes singing and dancing, what more can you ask? The shooting style in several places reminded me a lot of Moulin Rouge a couple of years back, which I like. Made you wish a place like this was real. A place with great entertainment, fantastic looking and talented women, where you could sit and really enjoy an evening of adult entertainment.
Gotta love it when they get a hot guy naked and play it up for both laughs and eroticness. It’s pretty clear the film makers knew damn well who their target audiance is.