Showgirls (1995)
45%RT Audience Score: 37%
Awards & Nominations: 10 wins & 10 nominations
Vile, contemptible, garish, and misogynistic — and that might just be exactly Showgirls’ point
If you’re looking for a movie that’s so bad it’s good, then Showgirls is the perfect pick. It’s like a train wreck that you can’t look away from, with over-the-top acting and ridiculous plotlines. Plus, it’s got enough nudity to make even the most prudish viewer blush. So grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the ride. Just don’t take it too seriously.
Production Company(ies)
Greenwich Film Productions,
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc., United Artists
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
Cheetah’s Topless Club – 2112 Western Avenue, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated NC-17 for nudity and erotic sexuality throughout, and for some graphic language and sexual violence
Year of Release
1995
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:DTS-Stereo Dolby SDDS Dolby Digital
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Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
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Runtime:2h 11m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Sep 22, 1995 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 1, 2006
Genre(s)
Drama/Lgbtq+
Keyword(s)
starring Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan, Gina Gershon, Glenn Plummer, Robert Davi, Alan Rachins, Gina Ravera, directed by Paul Verhoeven, written by Joe Eszterhas, drama, LGBTQ+, NC-17 rating, box office gross $19.3M, produced by Charles Evans, reviewed by William Thomas, Gene Siskel, Richard Corliss, Anthony Lane, Jay Boyar, Quentin Crisp, Mal Vincent, Margaret A McGurk, Mike Massie, Elizabeth Berkley Lauren, Nomi Malone, Zack Carey, Cristal Connors, James Smith, Al Torres, Tony Moss
Worldwide gross: $20,358,624
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $40,032,381
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,436
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 4,365,581
US/Canada gross: $20,350,754
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $40,016,906
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,167
US/Canada opening weekend: $8,112,627
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $15,952,344
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 758
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $45,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $88,486,193
Production budget ranking: 466
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $47,649,815
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$96,103,627
ROI to date (est.): -71%
ROI ranking: 1,808
Kyle MacLachlan – Zack Carey
Gina Gershon – Cristal Connors
Glenn Plummer – James Smith
Robert Davi – Al Torres
Alan Rachins – Tony Moss
Director(s)
Paul Verhoeven
Writer(s)
Joe Eszterhas
Producer(s)
Charles Evans
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
10 wins & 10 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (66) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (51)
Showgirls would be offensive if it hadn’t been hyped (“Leave your inhibitions at the door” winked the US publicity). But it has.
August 11, 2020 | Rating: 1/5
William Thomas
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Is it sexy? Not when you’re laughing.
March 29, 2019 | Rating: 2/4
Gene Siskel
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
The thin, terrible people of ‘Showgirls’ are equally loathsome; you don’t have a rooting interest in Nomi or her “dream,” and as a result, ‘Showgirls’ is 131 minutes of watching trashy, vapid people being terrible to each other.
May 27, 2016
Jason Bailey
Flavorwire
TOP CRITIC
Showgirls… is one of those delirious, hilarious botches that could be taught in film schools as a How Not To.
June 12, 2013
Richard Corliss
TIME Magazine
TOP CRITIC
Berkley’s acting début is a joy, if you can call it acting: she jumps up and down a lot to indicate excitement.
June 12, 2013
Anthony Lane
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
One thing I’ll say for Showgirls, it’s educational. But sadly, it isn’t much else.
June 12, 2013 | Rating: 1/5
Jay Boyar
Orlando Sentinel
TOP CRITIC
[Showgirls], which the world condemned utterly, I enjoyed. It moved fast, it looked glossy, and it had a plot. What more can one ask?
April 4, 2022
Quentin Crisp
Christopher Street
Too tacky to have been in any top Vegas feather show.
March 29, 2022
Mal Vincent
The Virginian-Pilot
Perhaps you have been tempted by the hype over this movie’s rating to go see what all the fuss is about. Crush that impulse.
August 19, 2021 | Rating: 0/4
Margaret A. McGurk
Cincinnati Enquirer
The entire picture isn’t an exercise in eroticism as much as it’s a jumbled series of excuses to have the cast take off their clothes.
June 28, 2021 | Rating: 2/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
This is a camp masterpiece and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
December 30, 2020 | Rating: 5/5
Trace Thurman
Horror Queers Podcast
Showgirls’ Camp influences, even shades of deliberate Camp, aren’t so much the film itself but in-universe productions compartmentalizing excess into metatext.
September 22, 2020
Matt Cipolla
The Spool…
Plot
All alone in the world, Nomi Malone, making her way to Las Vegas, is determined to make a name as a dancer while putting her unspoken past behind her. Her tough, streetwise veneer is not as infallible as she would like, she, as she arrives in Vegas, becoming more cautious in the way she approaches strangers who seem willing to help her purely out of the goodness of their heart. Her talent and connections in combination are only able to get her a job at the Cheetah Club, a strip joint. Her first true friend in Vegas, Molly Abrams, works as the costumer for Goddess, the topless production at the Stardust. It is through Molly that Nomi catches the eye of Goddess’ headliner, Cristal Connors. Nomi has a love/hate feeling toward Cristal: she doesn’t much like her but wants to become her. Being at the Stardust, Nomi also catches the eye of Cristal’s boyfriend, Zack Carey, Stardust’s entertainment director. Through these contacts, Nomi is presented opportunity after opportunity to be part of the Stardust/Goddess family. She has to decide how far she will go to achieve her dream. James Smith, a struggling dancer/choreographer who works whatever odd jobs he can get and who is also attracted to Nomi largely for her natural albeit very raw talent, doesn’t see Nomi’s chosen path as the one she should pursue as he considers Goddess illegitimate: while the Cheetah is what it appears on the surface, Goddess is the Cheetah hiding behind its big name. Through it all, Nomi will discover the good, the bad and the very bad about Vegas life, especially among the rich and beautiful.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The critic consensus for Showgirls on Fresh Kernels describes the film as “vile, contemptible, garish, and misogynistic — and that might just be exactly Showgirls’ point.”
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