26
Nov

Christina Aguilera — “Show Me How You Burlesque”
(from Burlesque [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]) — Show Me How You Burlesque - Burlesque (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

On the Waterfront it is most certainly not. But A and I took in a screening of Burlesque — the new showstopping movie musical starring uber-divas Cher and Christina Aguilera — the night before Thanksgiving, and found it to be two hours of good, trashy fun. Essentially, it’s Coyote Ugly on the left coast: instead of Violet, our heroine’s name is Ali; and instead of Jersey, she hails from Iowa; and instead of dancing on a bar, she dances on a stage; and instead of being a songwriter, she’s a singer who falls in love with a songwriter. Considering that the lion’s share of the action centers on beautifully becleavaged dancers in a seedy-ish Los Angeles nightclub (translation: boobies galore, urry scary last one of them thrust up toward the heavens), the film is surprisingly tame; indeed, the only outright nudity I can recall is the brief glimpse we get of actor Cam Gigandet’s supple, beauteous backside just prior to the nubile ingenue’s requisite tender deflowering. Still, Aguilera proves to be a stunningly capable actress — true enough, she’s smarly surrounded by pros who prop her up at every turn, including Veronica Mars‘ Kristen Bell (playing smashingly against type as a hard-assed alcoholic dancer livid by the sudden arrival of a corn-fed rival), Stanley Tucci (the gay costumier who, in a fun twist, stumbles across a little happiness of his own), and the indomitable Cher (and you’re fuckin’-A right, we still love her when she’s 64) — and that patented over-the-top, blast-through-the-boombox vocal style — the same one that tends to make her albums, on the whole, such tough slogs — fits right in in this fanciful milieu, particularly on tracks like “Show Me,” the film’s triumphant closing number, which allows the astonishingly gifted Aguilera a shot to loose her emotional bondage and let all the good stuff fly, honey.

2 responses to “a little bit naughty is a little bit nice
(or: november 26’s honey from the hive)”

  1. the buzz from A.:

    Is somebody afraid of “boobies”?

    Also, I think all of Cam (not just his backside) qualifies as “supple” and “beauteous,” at least all that was shown (thanks, Famous Amos cookies).

    And yes, Christina Aguilera and Cher sing great!

  2. the buzz from brandon:

    Not afraid of them, per se, just mystified by them. 🙂