Burlesque

My friend Deb invited me to see "Burlesque" with her so we went yesterday. She'd seen it before but wanted to see it again. I wanted to see it and although Spouse was unable to go with us, he said I should go anyway, and that he'd catch it via Netflix.

Although I'm not a huge Cher or Christina Aguilera fan, I did like the film. It was fun and entertaining, which is what I often go to the movies for. The costumes, hair and make-up are great, and I enjoyed the burlesque-style dance numbers more than I thought I would.

As you've probably heard/read, Cher only sings 2 songs while Christina sings what feels like dozens. But you've got to give Christina credit - the girl can belt and the musical aspect of the film is great. Almost like a modern day "Cabaret".

I found Christina's acting to be better than I had expected, but still with room for improvement. Especially the scene in the apartment where she and Jack are finally starting to warm up to each other. The giggling and 'I'm so innocent' looks didn't work for me. And for the record, I think Aguilera looks much better with golden blond hair color she has in most of the film...

over the platinum blond 'Marilyn Monroe' she usually wears outside the film.
Cher, on the other hand, didn't appear to be acting at all. She seemed to just be Cher, the owner of a burlesque club in LA. That part's real, right? But what appeared to be NOT real was Cher's mouth. I'm not sure if she's doing collagen injections or botox or what, but her mouth just didn't look right. Several times I found myself distracted by her mouth. See for yourself. Cher's old mouth...

Cher's new mouth...

Stanley Tucci is a fine actor, and was as handsome and sexy as ever playing Cher's best pal and costume repairman.

He plays a gay character in this film, which I felt he did expertly. Sometime straight actors playing gay roles overdo it in an attempt to be realistic. But Tucci walked the fine line of being authentic in a role that is not his authentic self.

Honorable mention also goes to Alan Cumming for his brief but humorous role as an employee at the burlesque theatre.

The film was enjoyable and entertaining, but the devil is in the details. It didn't seem logical that Aguilera's character Ally was so street-wise when she arrived in LA. The film leads us to believe that she was just a simple waitress in a dive bar in Iowa, yet somehow she immediately saw through the smooth talking Marcus. It seemed to me that a real waitress from Iowa would have been far more likely to have been taken in by the suave businessman. And what business owner just keeps balling up and throwing away the multiple notices of pending foreclosure of their club? A real club owner would not have waited until the 11th hour to decide to do something, especially in LA. But no film is perfect and this one had fewer plot faux pas then most.

If you think you'll like "Burlesque", go see it. You'll probably like it more. If you think you'll hate "Burlesque", go see it anyway. I bet you'll hate it less than you imagined.