" nothing more than a high budget masturbation fantasy " 
showgirls ( nc-17 ) - contains graphic nudity , profanity , sexual situations and violence . 
some people , however , keep their clothes on . 
you do not watch porn films for their intellectual values , nor do you write reviews on them . 
that's why this review will be short . 
it seems that this film will end up in the porn section when it hits the video stores . 
there is no story , script , point or acting . 
only naked bodies , which is exactly the point . 
here is the so called plot : nomi , the 23-year-old with a dark past as a hooker , has hitchhiked from somewhere back east to perform in a show where a dancer doesn't wear much more than a light coating of powder and a big , fake smile . 
no one is twisting nomi's arm . 
no one is holding her grandmother hostage . 
she wants to do this . 
and that is what she is doing till the end credits . 
so what's the problem then ? 
what's the point ? 
what's the film about ? 
is there anyone whose aspirations could inspire less sympathy ? 
this film can be described in one sentence : obscene level of incompetence , excessive stupidity in the story line , gross negligence of the viewer's intelligence , a prurient interest in the quick buck . 
believe me , after an hour with these characters , acting and script , you'll start hoping for someone to kill somebody . 
elizabeth berkley makes a laughable try as the heroine of this film , that is bad even for eszterhas' script . 
her character is the only one that is at least half written and she could really have done better . 
her character denies the fact that she is a whore for the industry , selling her body to the hungry eyes of the horny public . 
 " i am not a whore ! 
i am a dancer " , she screams , but does it in such an over dramatized way that you'll start laughing . 
in fact the acting in " showgirls " brings terrible to a new and previously unknown level . 
not one single achievement , besides the conventional cinematography , is worth mentioning . 
it is a total waste of time and money . 
there is not a single moment of what you might call intelligence . 
the dialogue is structured of ancient stereotypes and cliches lined up one after another . 
its attempt to even imagine to have half a brain results in a catastrophe . 
 " in my films , " writes director paul verhoeven ( 'basic instinct' , 'total recall' ) , " i hold the mirror up to life . " 
well , excuse me ? 
his attempt to go behind the scenes of las vegas , and as he put it " show the naked truth " , is simplified and unreal . 
occasionally , between his collection of mistakes and logical irrationalities , screenwriter joe eszterhas ( the creator of some of the worst screenplays in hollywood history ) inserts some lines of deep morality , that sound something like this : " hey , i see you . 
i see that you're hiding " - " from what ? " 
- " from you " . 
yes , and even the only decent line in this film : " nomi is what las vegas is all about " can't save 'showgirls' from going under . 
it's a strange phenomena . 
it's not erotic , because it lacks sensuality . 
not dramatic , because it lacks the acting . 
and not intelligent because it lacks a story . 
it is simply verhoven's bad excuse for making pornography . 
you want to see naked women ? 
bare breasts ? 
full frontals ? 
it's nothing wrong with that . 
but in that case i suggest that you rent a porn film in your local video store , and not waste time surviving through eszterhas' pathetic dialogue . 
b qualities , while it's only a high budget porn-film .