There’s Now a Showgirls Documentary Called “You Don’t Nomi”

It’s odd how something that was seen as trash can years later become known as ‘art’ because someone was willing to give it another look from a different perspective that allowed them to see just why and how something like Showgirls might have become a cult classic. Seriously, the movie was laughably bad since whatever talent Elizabeth Berkely took from her time on Saved by the Bell didn’t translate well to the big screen, and even after all these years she’s not really that well-known for much else apart from what she’s already done. In all fairness the movie was an attempt at something that one could admittedly say was bound to be seen as artistic and not meant to be taken seriously, which is how it was taken in the first place since Berkely’s wild gyrating and frenzied movements kind of bring to mind a stripper that’s just starting out and is getting a little to into her work. Seriously, the pool scene left a lot of guys thinking ‘what the hell, is she having a seizure?’. Apart from that the story was something that might have been a little easier to watch had Berkely had a few more acting lessons before taking the role. You Don’t Nomi is a look at a movie that likely should have been slept on a little longer, if only to make sure that it wasn’t panned in such an obvious way since really, the fact that this movie has been remembered for a while doesn’t have as much to do with the story as it does with the fact that it’s NC-17 rating gained it more attention than most and that it was expected to perform in a way that would justify the hype it received. Sadly, it didn’t do what was expected. Kevin Burwick of MovieWeb had more to say about this movie.

Maybe the expectation were a little too high with this one, as it was Berkely’s first real foray onto the big screen and not exactly something that was bound to become a glorious, shining moment in the sun. Or maybe it was expected to be just that and she didn’t perform the way that people hoped. Who knows? All that is evident is that people are getting bored if we’re going back to something like this, considering that there’s been plenty of time to scrutinize the movie and come up with a way to say ‘hey, you just didn’t understand it the way it was supposed to be’. Normally I don’t like really getting down on a movie about that much unless there’s really not much in the way of a single redeeming quality left to talk about. Showgirls might have a few moments in the movie that could possibly make it worth watching, but they’re sandwiched in between the moments that make it so laughably bad that trying to fight for those moments and their veracity is kind of like trying to find the proverbial needle in the haystack. It might exist, but the chances are pretty good that you’re going to need to dig to find it and hope that it didn’t somehow escape your notice. This movie was just a whole bucket of bad back in the day with a few dashes of good, and very little if any of it came from the character of Nomi, who was chasing a dream obviously but was so easily flustered that she might have missed one opportunity after another by batting those pretty eyes and then in the next second acting like she was ready to give up.

Many would likely point out that she did eventually leave Las Vegas slightly better off than when she came in, but it’s worth pointing out that Nomi is by far and large a very troubled individual that has engaged in a lot of reckless and very self-destructive behavior, but is obviously seen as the protagonist since she’s doing what she can to better her situation and even goes out of her way to get a bit of justice for her roommate and apologize the woman she pretty much crippled. This is the heroine figure that we’re given in this movie, if anyone remembers, and even for the 90s, this was taking edge to a place that wasn’t just inherently messed up, but was also insane in a manner that confused a lot of people in the process. Kelsey Miller of Refinery29 had something to say about the movie. The reason that a lot of people might not have fully understood this movie, and why some folks might be calling it satire, which is hard to fathom really, is that it came off less as a hero’s journey and more like a toddler telling a story to an adult while throwing things in as they went along, while throwing temper tantrums along the way because things weren’t going the way they wanted.