YOU DON’T NOMI

US, 2019, 92 minutes, Colour.

Directed by Jeffrey McHale.

Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls was released in 1995, winning so many Razzies (and his turning up to accept), strongly critical reviews, often laughed at.

The film is set in Las Vegas, showgirls, strippers, clients at the casinos, a blend of the glamorous and the tawdry, especially featuring rivalry between two showgirls played by Elizabeth Berkely and Gina Gershon.

Here is a documentary, almost a Silver Jubilee celebration of the film, a re-appraisal. In the title Elizabeth Berkely’s character is called Nomi Malone. And it is emphasised that Nomi can be understood in many ways, and negative in no Me, or a demand Knowe Me, or an abrupt assertion No! ME.  All relevant in this reappraisal.

Throughout the film there are many reviewers giving their opinions, from the time, and some in retrospect. And the writer-director uses the device of many chapters throughout the film, indicating that critics had different perspectives on Showgirls as a masterpiece – a cult film after all the years or a masterpiece of drek.

The film is in strong defence of the presence and performance by Elizabeth Berkely and regretting the severity of the response to her performance in the film and its effect on her potential and career. There are sequences from the television series in which she starred, Saved by the Bell, indicating why she was cast in the film. And, there are plenty of clips from the film itself as well is interviews with her over the years. And there are many scenes dramatising the clash with Crystal, played by Gina Gersho, and some interviews with Gina Gershon herself.

What may be of more interest to film buffs and this analysis of Showgirls and defence of it, especially with the bravado of Verhoeven himself at the time and decades later with interviews, is the survey of Paul Verhoeven’s career, with ample clips from many of his films, from those in Holland including The Fourth Man and Spetters, to the range of his Hollywood films including Flesh and Blood, Hollow Man, Robocop, Starship Troopers – and, of course, a lot from Basic Instinct and Sharon Stone.

This gives an opportunity for audiences to appreciate the director’s very forthright Dutch approach to his themes, treatment, sexual provocation, nudity, crass behaviour (and his including scenes of mirrors, fingernail care, vomiting from so many of his films).

Worth checking out the comments on IMDb, bloggers enjoying their comments on Showgirls:

• an over-the-top disaster that you can’t look away from…!

• This is not a documentary. It's a 90min movie review by a bunch of irrelevant "critics" spouting their irrelevant opinions no one cares about and no one asked for. They sit around pontificating the meaning behind every little thing and how the movie is full of "misogyny" and "racism". None of which is true,

• When does trash become art?

• An extended video essay about a film that bombed.

The film shows how much can be made of any film with a range of different viewpoints commenting, extensive clips to prove or disprove a point, and the question whether this kind of documentary would urge viewers to watch Showgirls – or watch it again.