Burlesque is flashy yet campy, and proud of it. The story and its characters are full of clichés, but when it comes to performances and dance routines, this musical is top-notch. Burlesque, like its ladies, is sexy but a tease…because it could have been better.
The story is one that we all know. A small town girl looking to escape to Los Angeles and make it big. Christina Aguilera makes her acting debut as Ali, a waitress who dreams of being a performer. Once she is out in L.A., she finds a burlesque club owned by a former dancer named Tess (Cher). She starts as a waitress and soon gets the chance to be on stage to give it all she’s got.
Ali meets Jack (Cam Gigandet), the bartender who gives her the waitress job. She soon moves in with him because she has no place to go. And you automatically know they will fall in love, but Jack is engaged to a woman who never comes home and cares more about her career than their relationship. So it’s doomed for failure but it takes up some time in the movie.
Once Ali actually gets to be one of the dancers, she faces her competition and star of the show, Nikki (Kristen Bell), who is spiraling out of control. When she is replaced by Ali, she seeks revenge by cutting the audio, but she never counted on Ali having her own great voice. No one did. This is when Ali becomes a star and the whole performance changes. As she gets more famous, people begin to want her and to use her – Marcus (Eric Dane) is one of those people. He wants to destroy the club so he can put up condos. A rich man who wants to “help” the sexy newcomer – what a shock.
This is Cher’s first movie since 2003’s Stuck On You, and she performs twice like only Cher can. She is the owner of the club who used to be at the top of her game, but you can tell that was quite a while ago. Now, she faces having to close the club and sell it, which she refuses to do but may not have a choice. Her character Tess may see a way out with Ali and setting the show up around her.
Cher has some help from Stanley Tucci, her sidekick and closest pal, and he is pretty similar to his character in The Devil Wears Prada with Meryl Streep. But Tucci is always entertaining and capable of being a scene-stealer. He has done it before and he does it a couple of times in this. However, Aguilera is the one in the driver’s seat.
Director Steve Antin built this movie to showcase Aguilera’s talent with her singing, dancing, and performing. Aguilera is actually pretty good but keep in mind, she is in her comfort zone when it comes to being on stage. She appears to be at ease in front of the camera as well. It will be interesting to see what she is capable of when her next film is not a musical. She has the talent to be a success and be taken seriously as an actress, but only time will tell.
Burlesque is a decent musical with great dancing and performances from everyone. The story does lack originality and overall, the film will not impress too many. Even with a great cast, it is tough to compete with films like Chicago and Nine.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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