Does “Showgirls” deserve to be reappraised — or drop-kicked into film history?
Salon readers weigh in. Apr. 06, 2004 | [Read “Alive and Kicking” by Charles Taylor.] I feel like I’m taking crazy pills! Has Charles Taylor completely lost his mind? Is this a joke? It is April Fools’ Day. Please tell me he’s kidding. “Showgirls” is hands down the worst movie ever made. The worst. Ever. That is why I love it. For years, my friends and I have gotten together, gotten drunk and howled with laughter at this unparalleled train wreck of a movie. It’s not camp, it’s beyond camp. It attempts to take Las Vegas seriously, and fails utterly, triumphantly! It is true that Verhoeven may have known what he was doing, but not in the way Taylor is giving him credit for. He was trying to make a sort of skin-flick masterpiece, as Burt Reynolds’ character in “Boogie Nights” aspired to do. And thus he produced a work of opulent, sublime cinematic incompetence. “Showgirls” truly pulls out all the stops. The dance numbers are beyond belief. Nothing more tasteless exists in the history of c
