Tuesday, November 30, 2010

How do you Burlesque?

I was excited to see Burlesque when I watched the trailer for the LAMBcast back in September.  I mean, what's not to love - Cher, Christina Aguilera, Stanley Tucci, etc.  Plus, there's singing, dancing, and did I mention Cher?  However, I'm pretty sure this movie isn't for everyone, I give it 3.5 stars out of 5.  So what I thought I might do, rather than just sing the praises of this film, and talk about what I loved about it, I thought I'd predict whether my fellow movie bloggers would like this.  This is just meant to be fun, if I'm way off, I apologize.  The percentage following their name is the how likely I think they are to enjoy the movie.


Nick (Random Ramblings of a Demented Doorknob) - Since Nick told me he was excited about this movie, I'm pretty sure he'll love it.  He's a big musical fan, and is a devotee of group dancing (a la "So you think you can Dance" and "America's Got Talent").  This has a lot of music (not all of it vintage Aguilera, so that's nice) and tons and tons of dancing.  So I'd give Nick a 90% chance of loving Burlesque.

Andrew (Encore's World of Film and TV) I foresee Andrew finding this one of the best movies this year.  He's a big fan of dramatic scenes, particularly those involving lots of costumes (which this show has aplenty, sort of a mix between Chicago and Moulin Rouge) 95%.

Sebastian (Films from the Supermassive Black Hole) - This stems from Hatter's enthusiasm about Moulin Rouge, since he sent a copy to Sebastian, who was really excited to see it.  He also is a huge Glee fan, so I imagine the singing and dancing as part of the plot will appeal to him, though he might have issues with there being little action. 75%

Mad Hatter (The Dark of the Matinee) - I did my research a bit on this one.  His favorite musical is Moulin Rouge (thanks Movie Meme in One Day) so I doubt he'd be opposed to the genre.  In addition, he can be pursuaded by movies that aren't super happy can still have a lot of merit.  So I'd give his chances of enjoying it about a 65%

Kai (The List) - I think Kai just enjoys boobs, and there are tons here, and he's an optimist, so the fact that it's a story about a mid-west girl who comes to LA (his hometown) and makes it big will appeal to him.  55% of loving it all, 100% chance of loving the boobs.

Rachel (Rachel's Reel Reviews) - Rachel loves Glee, but it wasn't an instant love.  She also isn't a huge fan of romantic comedies (which this steps into on occaison - the weakest part of the film in my opinion.)  However, there's a Twilight tie-in for the love interest, so the self-referential nature might appeal to her.  I give her a 50/50 chance of enjoying it. 

Jason (Invasion of the B movies) - There are a LOT of semi-nude girls in this movie.  They do a ton of suggestive dancing.  Also, I know Jason loves Showgirls (which this definitely channels, except Aguilera is a MUCH better actress than Elizabeth Berkley) so Jason might enjoy this, but overall, it probably isn't his style.  30% chance of liking it

Fletch (Blog Cabins) - I think Fletch will only like this if his secret Cher-love is allowed to come out (Okay, I don't know for sure he loves Cher, but he's a child of the 80s, so something might have stuck). 1% chance of even seeing this movie.



What do you think your chances of liking it will be?

13 comments:

Sebastian Gutierrez said...

Hey! I can stand a movie without much action! My favorite flick from last year was (500) DAYS OF SUMMER!! Come on now!

If you saw the trailer trash I wrote up on this one, you'd know. I'm actually not to excited to see it, which, given how I can't get to a theatre all that often, and when I do I want to see the 127 HOURS of the world, I probably won't. Who knows though. Soundtrack might be good. Maybe I'll pick that up.

Jess said...

I'm kidding. I didn't want to actually search peoples blogs to see what they thought, I just chose action because your LAMB battles choices keep having action in them. The soundtrack is actually really good, I'm planning to pick it up.

Andrew K. said...

Ha, I like this. My sister is making me go see this with her after Scott Pilgrim which she hated and I loved. I'll let you know what I think. (I kind of love this idea of gauging bloggers' responses to movies.)

Kaiderman said...

It's like you were inside my head.
Where the boobies live... in all honesty though, I'm actually an ass man!
Anyways, LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea for a post. Too funny!!!

Ryan McNeil said...

This post just made my night...especially for the fact that seven of your eight test subjects are dudes, and four out of the seven have better-than-average chances of liking the flick.

I think our hurry for BURLESQUE might have been slightly back-burnered, but knowing the musical-junkie I'm married to, it will still be seen.

No promises on whether I land on the 65 or 35 percentile.

Nick said...

My excitement for Burlesque kind of decreased the closer it came to coming out, mostly because of all the nay-sayers and negative comments finally getting to me. But I still really wanna see it, and I'm glad it's a lot of fun. I dunno if I'll get a chance to see it in theater, though.

Great review! I love the creativity.

Jess said...

Thanks guys! Glad you liked it (and weren't offended by my presumptions). The more I think about the movie, the more I want to watch it again, so that's a point in its favor. I think it will also have good appeal on DVD, so no worries missing it in theaters.

Lady Hatter will LOVE it!!

David Bishop said...

Cher pretty much keeps me away from this one. I'm not completely against it , but there's really no chance I'll see it in the theater. I just hope it doesn't end up being another Moulin Rouge! scenario where I really great not having seen it in a theater.

Jess said...

David - I think you'd enjoy it. Cher is particularly enjoyable - doing a faily un-Cher-like performance. She's much nicer and deeper than I expected. She does sing, so if you hate her voice, this might not be for you.

Rachel said...

For me your prediction is spot on. Should I actually ever make it around to seeing this, I'll hate it with a burning passion of a thousand suns or harbor it as secret guilty pleasure.

Univarn said...

I hate to be an outlier but I think I'm down there with Fletch. I like musicals in their own right, but I can't stand Cher (sorry Cher fans, not a knock on her music, just her personality). Stanley Tucci is the only reason I'd check this one out.

However this is a pretty creative post Jess, my congrats in that regard :)

Fletch said...

Unlike Kai, I am a boob man, but you were still spot on. After all, why would I need to spend 10 bucks to see some gawdawful musical to see boobs when I can see them at home, on the internet, on TV...pretty much anywhere I want, without having to suffer through Cher (no dice on that guess).

Great twist on a traditional review! :)

Jason Soto said...

Yeah, I'm not seeing this movie. My fiancee did and she said it was so much like "Showgirls" down to (SPOILER?) her stuff getting stolen. I was floored. So if I want to see horrible dancing and boobs, I'll watch "Showgirls".
-Jason