Word: instincts
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...said. Perhaps not, but no one who knows him thinks there is much of anything Colin Powell hasn't thought through. In this instance, Powell's nonresponse, which robs his pro-choice stance of an important real-world consequence, reveals caution rather than ignorance--and a finely honed political instinct as well. To a favorite Powell maxim, "Don't make a decision until you have to," one should probably add, "And don't rub it in unless you must...
Showgirls, a Las Vegas sex-and-dope opera from the Basic Instinct team of Joe Eszterhas (writer) and Paul Verhoeven (director), is one of those delirious, hilarious botches that could be taught in film schools as a How Not To. It tells the story of edgy, ambitious Nomi Malone (Elizabeth Berkley), a Vegas newcomer who gets a job as stripper at a seedy club, then screws her way to the star spot in a hotel revue, over the backs and other body parts of her rivals, notably headliner Cristal Connors (Gina Gershon...
...risks are high. The $40 million film has no stars and has been critically drubbed. Its sole market value, beyond the Eszterhas-Verhoeven brand name, is its rating--the one most directors so fear that they will scissor their films (as Verhoeven did with Basic Instinct) to avoid getting it. Showgirls wears this stigma as a badge of honor and a sales pitch. "Leave your inhibitions at the door," the ads blare. Translation: Dirty movie ahead...
Verhoeven and Eszterhas may have needed the R rating after all. When they made Basic Instinct--a sexy R movie--they deployed atmosphere and innuendo to complement Sharon Stone's swank star turn. Here, with an NC-17 rating, the lads go slack; they let pubic hair and menstruation jokes do all the work. Since their leading lady can't act or dance or dazzle the camera, they've got problems they apparently didn't want to solve...
Berkley's overwrought performance as Nomi is the final insult. The former "Saved By The Bell" actress makes you long for the wit and subtlety of Sharon Stone's crotch-flashing in "Basic Instinct." Berkley's version of the cliched femme fatale is all pants and snarls, without a hint of irony. As for the male characters, they remain locked in even more unsavory cliches: pockmarked pimp, hustler-with-a-heart-of-gold...