The reality of burlesque, NOT!

BURLESQUE (2010)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Burlesque" is enjoyable, electrically-layered and superfluous fluff. It is probably not the real world of burlesque - it is filtered through sets that are lit by warm-colored lights (even the supposedly lived-in apartments are lit the same way). It is fun to watch but hardly anything in it feels true.

Christina Aguilera is Ali, the singer with dreams of making it in La-La Land. She leaves her Iowa waitress job in one of the fastest decisions ever made by a small-town girl in a movie I've ever seen. She takes a bus to L.A. (with money she stole from the register), and hopes to make it big as a singer and dancer. She finds it in a burlesque joint on Sunset Boulevard run by Miss Moonstruck herself, Cher - actually her character's name is Tess. Ali has to beg to work as a waitress in the club, which she chooses to do anyway without seeing the boss! I think in the real world, you can't just work a job without being hired, hello Miss Erin Brockovich! I went along with it anyway. Before we can say, how big are your tips, Miss Ali, she convinces Tess and her ex-husband (delectably played by Stanley Tucci) that she can electrify the stage with her dance moves. This club also has their dancers lip-synch but, not Miss Aguilera (who warbled her way through The Star-Spangled Banner recently), who proves what a firestorm of singing talent she really is when she belts out Etta James' "Tough Lover" (easily the best number in the entire movie).

There is also the needless introduction of a bartender (Cam Gigandet) who writes unfinished songs and naturally falls for Ali; a billionaire (Eric Dane) who plans to get rid of the club; an alcoholic rival dancer, Nikki, played by Kristen Bell, who appears about as drunk as she does when she appears on "The Craig Ferguson Show" which is to say, not at all; and a thankless and speechless role with James Brolin as a real-estate developer. But the real reason anyone would want to watch "Burlesque" is for the singing and dance numbers and they are show-stopping indeed. Aguilera belts out her songs with more conviction and energy than her scenes of dialogue. Cher has a couple of songs to sing but Aguilera steals the movie from everyone.

"Burlesque" is a hark back to the old backstage musicals, but with more glitz and an oversaturated Hallmarked sepia glow in almost every scene that is a bit disconcerting. I enjoyed "Chicago" far more than this film but "Burlesque" is perversely entertaining and about as realistic as a reality show.