BURLESQUE (PG-13 for partial nudity, profanity, suggestive dance routines, plenty of sexual references): Another fairy tale but with a totally different mindset, this is the story of Ali (short for Alice, played by songstress Christina Aguilera), a small-town girl with a huge voice who follows her dream to become a famous singing/dancing star in Los Angeles. She stumbles into a less than successful Burlesque Lounge with Tess (Cher) as proprieter; she brazenly pushes herself into a job, which, thanks to certain vicissitudes, winds her up as a lead star.
That's the rags-to-riches plot, intertwined with a subplot that hinges on the success or failure of the lounge, and with a boy-meets-girl, etc., sub plot as Ali falls in & out of love with bartender Jack (Cam Gigandet). Doesn't fair love ever run true? In this Hollywood-type fairy tale (including fun & games with sharp-witted stage manager Stanley Tucci and a tryst with ambiguous businessman, Alan Cumming) and hail, hail the gang's all here in a "show must go on" business, nothing's left out as the flick runs its well-traversed course to the BIG final number that caps it all.
Writer/director Steve Antin fleshed out this check-list story with the staging of musical numbers reminiscent (but not nearly as original) as those from the likes of Bob Fosse. "Chicago" and "Cabaret," much as it strives to be, it ain't.
Aquilera dominates the show with her ear-shattering, raucous technique in belting out her songs, the most telling of which is her "I Am A Good Girl" number in which, Mae West style, she proves she's really not. Her numbers are the hits in the show; it's a pity she can't come up to them as an actress.
Cher, looking trim & snappy for her 56-years, has one good number and she does it to the hilt.
This is eye candy, colorful despite its triteness, but only enough to satisfy at least while it lasts during its 100-minutes. (Grade: C+)
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