Burlesque

While I didn't have the highest hopes for this movie, I did think it had some potential so I was just bit disappointed in the film as a whole. To see amazing acting from Christina Aguilera (Ally) wasn't going to happen but I expected the dancing to be ridiculously phenomenal but it left some to be wanting.

So the story is about Ally (Aguilera) who leaves very, very small town Iowa to move to Hollywood. In the course of her voice-over song, Ally manages to find a rent-controlled apartment and then she stumbles across the Burlesque Lounge, run by Tess (Cher) and Shawn (Stanley Tucci). She makes friends with a bartender, Jack (Cam Gigandet) and through unfortunate and completely predictable circumstances, she ends up moving in with him on a temporary basis while his fiance is across the country at a job.

Ally waitresses, then auditions, and finally joins the dancers of Burlesque. Subsequent events end up with Ally taking the lead role away from Nikki (Kristen Bell). Then comes the awkward drama that Aguilera just can't quite pull off acting wise. Ally finally finds this great job and new family but Tess is in danger of losing it to the bank.

Overall the story is predictable but I didn't see it for the amazing plot twists I thought were going to get me. I like musicals. Simply put. Unfortunately for Burlesque, most musical characters have so much in them that they don't know how to express themselves but through song. Burlesque doesn't carry on with that tradition. The girls are either lip syncing (quite obviously) or there are original songs written strictly for the movie... but all the songs are sung on a stage, as part of a performance. There are three songs I can recall that also pertain to the situation at hand: Cher's opening number at the burlesque that introduces Ally as well as the audience to what we're in store for, Cher's "not-going-to-get-me-down" song (which in no way, shape, or form needed to be performed with her on a stage with a blue spotlight), and Ally's "in-love" song (which also did not need to be performed on a stage).

Some of the better parts of the movie were the performances themselves. Nobody can deny that Christina Aguilera can sing the hell out of anything. Although it would've been better to have her sing as a total surprise to the audience as well as to Tess. The hinted at history between Tess and Nikki had good background. There seems to have been a genuine friendship there at one point that has faded to a shadow of it's former self. We don't need to see how it started out but to see how its ending shows us a lot. Cam Gigandet. He was surprisingly funny and of course beyond easy on the eyes.

What I felt was a real disappointment was the lack of men. I know that burlesques are usually frequented by men to watch the women (as the stereo-type would go) but when I saw Alan Cumming's name in the opening credits I got very excited that he would get a musical number. No. He got a comedic number and a bit line here and there. The man has won awards for his performance in Cabaret and yet he was just very under-used in Burlesque.

My favorite characters were Stanley Tucci's Shawn, who costumes the burlesque girls, and Cam Gigandet's Jack who was just awesome to look at the whole time. I would see this movie again just to watch him. Especially with the eye liner. I only have three words to describe that: HOT.

I'm pretty sure that girls between the ages of 13-18 would love this movie if they've never seen Chicago or Moulin Rounge!. But then again, men of all ages will love it for the costumes alone.