Showgirls: VIP Edition (DVD)
Directed by: Paul Verhoeven
Written by: Joe Eszterhas
Starring: Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan, Gina Gershon

When people think about bad movies nowadays, Showgirls is one of the first that come to mind. Every person involved in this film is making bad decisions at one point or another, the dialogue is bizarre and inhuman, the situation and world these characters live in isn’t believable at all, the nudity is unsexy, over the top and gratuitious, and every other line is so stupidly wonderful you’ll remember it forever.

And its amazingly watchable. It’s a beautifully shot film that with its 2 hours length moves by veryquickly. It’s these factors that have put Showgirlsbeyond the average bad movie scrap heap into a short list of absolute favorites among the cult movie crowd.9 years after its initial release, the studio finally realizes what a treasure they have, and have finally released a deluxe edition of Showgirls. In fact, they over-released it.

The Showgirls DVD itself is of course, the centerpiece. If you don’t care about special features at all and want a Showgirls DVD, forget about this deluxe edition entirely and grab the 10 dollar version you can get at any store anywhere. Because the extra 20-30 dollars you spend on this DVD relies entirely on the shoulders of the quality of the commentary track.

And it delivers. Presented by a Showgirls fan who has seen the movie hundreds of times, the commentary track is among the best to ever grace my ears, almost as funny as the movie itself. It bluntly mocks with catty viciousnessness – and love – the entire 2 hours of the film. There are many gaps in the track as even the host is drawn in by the movie, but even then its fine since the host is not one of those types to keep talking when theres nothing to be said. There is also a commentary track in the strip club scenes by the girls of SCORES, a popular strip club chain. The strippers are watching the scenes for the first time and deliver nothing, other than “we don’t do that”when Berkley’s character licks the pole (no shit!).Their contribution is entirely “we don’t do that”/”she’s pretty”/”she’s moving too fast”.

The box set edition also comes with some party games. A deck of “Showgirls” playing cards – unfortunately its not a nudie deck. Theres also a couple shotglasses, a blindfold and a “pin the pasties on the Showgirl” game/poster. Yes, and that’s it. Basically, I can only recommend this set based on what you pay for it. Don’t pay much more than you would any new special edition DVD unless you really want the commentary track, or are actually planning on having a Showgirls party sometime in the future. — Goon

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