Burlesque

Burlesque is an escapist musical-theater drama. It is made for people who love song, dance, and diversions from reality. The script is so very conventional and unoriginal that the ending can be seen from a mile a way. The main ingredients in the formulaic recipe of this film are: one small town girl Ali leaving for LA from her dismal midwestern life in search of stardom, one Burlesque club in LA in financial peril that is owned by former dancer Tess, and one engaged bartender Jack with a couch for Ali to sleep on. Mix these ingredients together and add in a pinch of jealousy among the dancing performers and a splash of cocky rich guy wanting to buy the club to turn it into a high-rise and you have yourself the mediocre plot of Burlesque. It does not take much to guess where the story will end up, especially if you have seen the preview to the film. Of course, if you have seen the preview then you know that there is more to this film than a horrible storyline. There are also the musical theater flavors to it: the singing and dancing. You'll hear no complaints from me on this front. Christina Aguilera (Ali) is a phenomenal singer/performer and her acting was surprisingly OK. And then there is Cher (Tess). Cher is almost a caricature of herself. She is a person who is larger than life. You can choose to look at her perfomance in Burlesque as stiff and phoned-in, but I prefer to look at it as subtle and heartfelt. Cher is amazing. Burlesque, on the other hand, is not so much amazing as it is 'blah.' It's almost so 'blah' that it is 'ah.' It's almost so bad that it is, in some weird guilty-pleasure way, good.