Flashback! Bad Movies That Haunt Me: Showgirls

I really liked much of writer Joe Eszterhas' earlier work, particularly Jagged Edge and Basic Instinct. I thought both films blended drama and sensuality really well, and were smart, interesting films.

I read the reviews for Showgirls, and realized "smart" and "interesting" were most likely out. The critics panned the flick hard from the start, and it was obvious this movie was going the way of Heaven's Gate and Ishtar.


With only "sensuality" remaining as a hopeful possibility, I plopped down a couple of dollars just to see the chick from Saved By The Bell sans clothes. This was Elizabeth Berkley's big movie break, and she took a huge gamble that this film would pay off.



She crapped out.


In what was meant to be one of the most sexually charged scenes in the movie, Berkley's character seduced a man in a swimming pool. The acting during the sex scene is so absurd that I couldn't help but laugh.

The movie was a career buster for Berkley, at least in regard to films. She had a small role in The First Wives Club, but almost all of her other work has been in television. And Eszterhas hit a career snag too, with very little of his work being produced since.

Showgirls...[shudder]

I'm still haunted by it.