Showgirls

Joe Eszterhas' by-numbers script recycles the baggy, Faustian 'ingénue comes to the big bad city' tale and stuffs it into a skimpy, lamé-bedecked version of the 'let's put on a show' musical. Plus topless. Alarm bells sound in the gauche opening sequence where hot-panted Nomi (Berkley) hitches her way into Las Vegas in the car of a predatory 'slick'. Thereafter, it's red lights all the way. You couldn't call the film misogynist; director Verhoeven's targets are too wide-ranging for it to be anything less than purely misanthropic.