Paul Verhoeven's controversial opus, 'Showgirls', has been released on disc and to those of you that decided to wait for this one on video, I will offer only this. 'Showgirls' is neither as bad as its legion of detractors would have you believe nor as good as those responsible for its creation would have you believe. The story deals with the travails of an aspiring dancer trying to make it in the harsh, neon-lit world of Las Vegas. The script is pure soap opera, and not even very good soap opera. That's the worst of it. The women are gorgeous and the dancing is excellent. That's the best of it. Whether or not the good outweighs the bad is something you will have to decide for yourself.
One thing you will not have to decide on, however, is the quality of this new laser disc from MGM/UA. 'Showgirls' was shot in anamorphic widescreen (Clairemont) and the ratio here is about 2.35:1. The video quality is, like most "A" titles recently, excellent. Colors are clean and perfectly saturated. There are a number of scenes (as you might expect) with intense red lighting that remain relatively clear and sharp (not an easy feat). Contrast and brightness are about perfect giving the image a very natural look. Of particular note is the excellent sharpness and detail making it quite easy to make out the erect nip....well, never mind. It's a real sharp picture <G>.
The soundtrack is also excellent. The Dolby mix does an exceptional job of keeping the dialog understandable, even amidst the pounding rock music that fills the score. I also found the audio on this disc lacking some of the brightness often found on movie soundtracks. This results in a very pleasant overall sound, particularly for a soundtrack with so many rather loud passages. The disc also contains Dolby AC-3 audio.
'Showgirls' runs 131 minutes and the disc contains 33 chapters for the feature. Following the movie is an "R" rated trailer (framed at 1.85:1), a teaser (full scren) and a short production featurette that runs about 5 minutes. Those of you that pay close attention to such things will note that this MGM/UA disc is being distributed by Image instead of Warner, who normally distributes MGM/UA product. It seems Warner did not want to be associated with a film carrying the dreaded "NC-17" rating so allowed Image to distribute it instead. And finally, I have to nominate MGM/UA for "the stupidest statement on a disc jacket" award. On the front of the jacket, right next to the MGM lion at the lower left corner is the statement "you must be 18 or over to view this laser disc". Yeah, right.
List price is $49.95. I know, you could buy a couple years subscription to Penthouse for that, but, hey, 'Showgirls' is at least more entertaining than that.
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