Editing Showgirls (section)

=== Critical re-evaluation ===
Critics such as [[Jonathan Rosenbaum]] and [[J. Hoberman]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Nayman |first=Adam |title=It Doesn't Suck: Showgirls |year=2018 |publisher=ECW Press |isbn=978-1770414402}}</ref> as well as filmmakers [[Jim Jarmusch]],<ref name="jr">{{cite web |last=Rosenbaum |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Rosenbaum |date=November 12, 1999 |title=Sexual Healing |url=http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.net/?p=6439 |access-date=March 17, 2014 |website=[[Chicago Reader]]}}</ref> [[Adam McKay]]<ref>{{cite podcast|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d77cG01X6I8 |title=Orange Julius or Hi-C and Turkey? feat. Adam McKay |number=441 |series=[[Chapo Trap House]] |date=July 30, 2020 |access-date=July 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/d77cG01X6I8 |archive-date=2021-11-17 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Jacques Rivette]],<ref name="Bonnaud" /> have gone on the record defending ''Showgirls'' as a serious satire.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lim |first1=Dennis |date=June 13, 2010 |title=Second Look: 'Showgirls' keeps us guessing |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jun-13-la-ca-second-20100613-story.html |url-status=live |access-date=22 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230128172806/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-jun-13-la-ca-second-20100613-story.html |archive-date=2023-01-28}}</ref> In a 1998 interview, Rivette called it "one of the great American films of the last few years", though "very unpleasant: it's about surviving in a world populated by assholes, and that's Verhoeven's philosophy".<ref name="Bonnaud">{{cite web |last=Bonnaud |first=Frédéric |date=March 25, 1998 |title=The Captive Lover – An Interview with Jacques Rivette |url=http://sensesofcinema.com/2001/16/rivette-2/ |access-date=March 17, 2014 |website=[[Senses of Cinema]]}}</ref> [[Quentin Tarantino]] has stated that he enjoyed ''Showgirls'', referring to it in 1996 as the "only ... other time in the last twenty years [that] a major studio made a full-on, gigantic, big-budget [[exploitation film|exploitation movie]]", comparing it to ''[[Mandingo (film)|Mandingo]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Udovitch |first=Mim |editor-first=Gerald|editor-last=Peary|editor-link=Gerald Peary|title=Quentin Tarantino: Interviews |year=1998 |publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]] |location=Jackson, Mississippi|isbn=978-1-57806-051-1 |chapter=Mim Udovitch/1996 |pages=172–173 }}</ref>

''Showgirls'' has been compared to the 1950 film ''[[All About Eve]]'' as a remake, update, or rip-off of that film.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Jonathan|last=Rosenbaum|url= https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/showgirls/Film?oid=9217974|title=Showgirls |magazine=[[Chicago Reader]]|access-date=March 17, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Begg |first=Ken |title=Showgirls Review – Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension |url=http://www.jabootu.com/acolytes/brandiweed/showgirls.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101118040753/http://jabootu.com/acolytes/brandiweed/showgirls.htm |archive-date=November 18, 2010 |access-date=November 25, 2010 |website=Jabootu.com}}</ref> For Rosenbaum, "''Showgirls'' has to be one of the most vitriolic allegories about Hollywood and selling out ever made".<ref name="jr" /> "Verhoeven may be the bravest and most assured satirist in Hollywood, insofar as he succeeds in making big genre movies no one knows whether to take seriously or not", wrote [[Michael Atkinson (writer)|Michael Atkinson]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/328903/starship-troopers/#articles-reviews?articleId=152604 |last=Atkinson |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Atkinson (writer) |title=Starship Troopers |date=December 11, 2006 |website=[[Turner Classic Movies]] |access-date=March 17, 2014}}</ref>

In ''[[Slant Magazine|Slant]]''{{'}}s four-out-of-four-star review, Eric Henderson rejected the "so-bad-it's-good" interpretation and lauds the film as "one of the most honest satires of recent years", stating that the film targets Hollywood's "morally bankrupt star-is-born tales."<ref name=Slant>{{cite magazine|last=Henderson |first=Eric |date=July 18, 2004 |title=Review: ''Showgirls'' |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/showgirls/ |access-date=April 17, 2012 |magazine=[[Slant Magazine]]}}</ref> Henderson drew from a 2003 round-table discussion in ''[[Film Quarterly]]'' in which others argued its merits. Noël Burch attests that the film "takes mass culture seriously, as a site of both fascination and struggle" and uses [[melodrama]] as "an excellent vehicle for social criticism."<ref name="fquart1">{{cite journal |last=Burch |first=Noël |year=2003 |title=Embarrassing Showgirls |journal=[[Film Quarterly]] |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=35–36 |doi=10.1525/fq.2003.56.3.32 |jstor=10.1525/fq.2003.56.3.32}}</ref> In the same round-table, [[Chon Noriega]] suggests that the film has been misinterpreted and the satire overlooked because "the film lacks the usual coordinates and signposts for a critique of human vice and folly provided by sarcasm, irony, and caustic wit."<ref name=fquart2>{{cite journal|last=Noriega|first=Chon|title=A Whisper of Satire|journal=Film Quarterly|year=2003|volume=56|issue=3|pages=36–38|jstor=10.1525/fq.2003.56.3.32|doi=10.1525/fq.2003.56.3.32}}</ref>

Berkley's performance, which was heavily criticized as out of sync with the rest of the film's tone, was also reappraised.<ref name="BBC" /><ref name=Spool>{{Cite web |last=Cippola |first=Matt |date=September 22, 2020 |title=This isn't Camp. This is holy water!: 'Showgirls' at 25 |url=http://www.thespool.net/reviews/movies/showgirls-anniversary/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201227051034/http://www.thespool.net/reviews/movies/showgirls-anniversary/ |archive-date=2020-12-27 |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=The Spool}}</ref> In 2015, Verhoeven said Berkley had unfairly taken on the bulk of criticism against the film and claimed responsibility for her performance.<ref name="NYDaily"/><ref name="CatchingHeat" /> "Good or not good, I was the one who asked her to exaggerate everything – every move – because that was the element of style that I thought would work for the movie," he said.<ref name=RollingStone/> In 2020, Hugh Montgomery of the [[BBC News|BBC]] described Berkley's portrayal as "the definition of a star turn: absolutely singular, and charged with a haywire electricity", adding, "It benefits from the meta-authenticity that comes from a young entertainer pulling out all the stops for her shot at the big time, playing a young entertainer pulling out all the stops for her shot at the big time. But above and beyond that, it is an exhilaratingly surreal and abrasive performance, in which gestures and expressions are exaggerated to an inhuman level".<ref name="BBC" /> Critic Catherine Bray said, "You can't criticise the performance for not being realistic. That's like looking at an [[Andy Warhol]] and going 'well those colours aren't true to life. It's a [[Pop art|pop-art]] caricature'".<ref name="BBC" />

The violence of the gang rape scene has generated criticism and debate, with some describing it as being in poor taste and unnecessarily brutal because it happens to the film's prominent woman of color and serves mainly as a catalyst for Nomi's moral arc.<ref name="BBC" /><ref name=DailyBeast/><ref name=Slant/><ref name=Alter/><ref name="Esquire">{{cite magazine |last1=Bruney |first1=Gabrielle |title=''Showgirls'' Is Absurd, Problematic, and Famously Bad. 25 Years Later It's a Hate-Watch Classic. |url=https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a34100271/showgirls-25th-anniversary-essay-so-bad-its-good/ |magazine=[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]] |access-date=23 July 2023 |date=2020-09-22}}</ref> Jeffrey McHale, the director of ''You Don't Nomi'', opined, "It's completely offensive. I think it's not really necessary… [Verhoeven] used Molly's brutalisation as a way for Nomi to find herself and I think that's disgusting."<ref name="BBC" />

The film continues to generate critical discussion about its themes and commentary on [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] culture,<ref name=ScreenQueens>{{Cite web |last=Evelyn |first=Christie |date=2020-08-05 |title='Showgirls' and the Panopticon of Patriarchy |url=https://screen-queens.com/2020/08/05/showgirls-and-the-panopticon-of-patriarchy/ |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=Screen Queens}}</ref><ref name="BBC" /> the [[American Dream|American dream]],<ref name=Spool/><ref name="fquart1" /> and the nature of [[sex work]],<ref name=ScreenQueens/><ref name="BloodyDigusting">{{cite web |last1=Lipsett |first1=Joe |title=[Horror Queers Podcast] The Horrors of Sex and Sex Work in 'Showgirls' |url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/podcasts/3633380/horror-queers-podcast-horrors-sex-sex-work-showgirls/ |website=[[Bloody Disgusting]] |access-date=14 July 2023 |date=2020-09-28}}</ref> with some contending that the film's many exaggerated aspects{{snd}}its gaudy dance numbers,<ref name=Spool/> excessive nudity, laughable dialogue, and over-the-top acting{{snd}}are all deliberately part of the film's intent.<ref name=Slant/><ref name=Kumar/><ref name=Zarum>{{Cite news |last=Zarum |first=Lara |date=2014-06-04 |title=It Doesn't Suck |work=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |url=https://slate.com/culture/2014/06/it-doesnt-suck-adam-naymans-defense-of-showgirls-reviewed.html |access-date=2023-07-14 |issn=1091-2339}}</ref><ref name=Salon>{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Charles |date=2004-04-01 |title=Alive and kicking |url=https://www.salon.com/2004/03/31/showgirls_2/ |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=[[Salon (magazine)|Salon]]}}</ref> In 2020, ''[[The Guardian]]'' commented: "With ''Showgirls'', the target was the American dream itself – and the dishonest '[[A Star Is Born (1937 film)|star is born]]' narratives churned out to sustain it."<ref>{{cite web |last=Rose |first=Steve |date=8 June 2020 |title=The naked truth about Showgirls: the 90s flop is a misunderstood gem |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jun/08/showgirls-the-90s-flop-is-a-misunderstood-gem-goddess-the-fall-and-rise-of-showgirls-you-dont-nomi |access-date=23 August 2021 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>