Thursday, May 26, 2011

Movie review – “Burlesque” (2010) **1/2

Crappy camp fun. Christina Aguilera’s greatest gift is her singing voice so it was probably a mistake to launch her acting career in a film about burlesque, which is a dancing art form – although Christina has shown a tendency to dance trashily in her film clips. They try to get around it by having her play a dancing burlesque artist who breaks into song. Apparently the only other person who dances and sings is Cher – which you feel was changed from an original version “no one can sing” to enable Cher to have a big number. But it wasn’t worth it.

I saw this on a plane and it passed the time but it wasn’t that good. Too bad to be a movie of quality, not over the top enough to be delirious fun. There’s some bright lines, it spanks along, the costumes and dances are terrific, there are some solid songs and it’s got a strong support cast. Cher’s plastic surgery is very distracting, and she isn't much in the part, but she gets to do most of her scenes with Stanley Tucci, who is always good. Kristen Bell is fun as a bitchy vixen (it’s like watching Veronica Mars go undercover at a burlesque house), and there are bits from Alan Cumming (far, far too small a part – he’s wasted), James Brolin, McSteamy, and Diana Argon off Glee (again far too small a part). Christina Aguileria seems to try but she’s a bit bland on screen – her character lacks spark. (Tucci says her character has heart but we never see it). And she has to play most of her scenes opposite a bland guy.

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