Although I hate to admit it I wanted to see the film as soon as I saw the trailer. No, I am not a closet Cher fan, nor am I that fond of Christina (check spelling) Aguilera. I also have a tendency to dislike musicals, and while I know Burlesque is not technically a musical, it does feature it's fair share of singing and dancing. My real reason for wanting to see Burlesque is that I am quite fond of the quartet of male actors in the movie. Cam Gigandet, Eric Dane, Peter Gallagher and Stanley Tucci. The two formers for their dashing good looks (yes I'm that shallow) and the two latters for the range of characters they've played which I have loved and loved to hate over the years. Thankfully when I saw the trailer I wasn't worrying who would agree to accompany me to such a movie as I knew that this film would be right up my best friends street. I'm happy to say I wasn't wrong. About my best friend or the movie.
I thoroughly enjoyed Burlesque. The dancing (from all involved) was a joy to watch, the singing (from Cher and Christina) was not too overdone, and the acting - especially from Aguilera - was better than expected. The story is of small town girl Ali (Aguilera), who dreams of being on stage. She travels to LA and finds herself waitressing in the Burlesque lounge. A club where the dancers mime along to classic songs. The club is struggling financially when it's owner Tess (Cher) discovers that Ali can not only dance, but sing too. She makes Ali the star of the show and things start to look up.
Without spoiling too much I will say that there are heartaches and struggles along the way as you'd expect from this type of movie but on the whole I found it to be an enjoyable piece of fluff. It won't be to everyone's taste and has taken lot of criticism for being too similar to Cabaret and Chicago but I think if you take it at face value you'll enjoy it. 7 out of 10.
Viewing Date - 3rd January 2011
UK Release Date - 17th December 2010
Cast Overview:
Cher ~ Tess
Christina Aguilera ~ Ali
Eric Dane ~ Marcus
Cam Gigandet ~ Jack
Julianne Hough ~ Georgia
Alan Cumming ~ Alexis
Peter Gallagher ~ Vince
Kristen Bell ~ Nikki
Stanley Tucci ~ Sean
Director/Writer ~ Steve Antin
I thought, similar films-wise, it was a cross between Coyote Ugly and Crossroads. Definitely better acting than expected. And just a good fun camp romp - so glad you liked it as nobody else I know did!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYeah I've heard the Coyote Ugly comparisons too but I think the most frequent are Cabaret and Chicago, which I can see, but it's not the same as either of those. Like I said, I enjoyed it on face value. It's not going to win any acting awards but it was fun to watch.
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