Welcome To (A Short Review Of) Burlesque

It’s really not very surprising that I loved Burlesque with all my heart. I had basically already judged the film to be brilliant back when it was announced. But there is so much to enjoy here both from a camp, making-fun-of-it perspective and a serious, is-this-actually-entertaining perspective.

Of all the pop singers turned actors, Cher has always been the best, and has delivered performances in films like Mask, Moonstruck and Mermaids that stand strongly alongside other acclaimed actresses of her era. She managed to do what few female popstars have ever done, and that is create an acting career that wasn’t seen as a complete joke. I could honestly see Christina Aguilera follow in her footsteps. Christina isn’t mindblowing in Burlesque but she does much better than I thought she would with the dialogue and the story. I was able to lose myself in her performance – I wasn’t watching Christina Aguilera play a part, I was actually watching a character. That is something Cher was also able to do, and while Burlesque isn’t on par with her best film work it is still a triumphant return to acting after twelve years away from the screen. The supporting players – Stanley Tucci, Kristen Bell, Cam Gigandet, Alan Cumming, Eric Dane, Peter Gallagher, Julianne Hough – are almost all known mainly from TV shows, and could have been really shaky in this already unstable film environment, but are all pretty much perfect for their roles and make for excellent diversions for when we’re not listening to Christina wail or marvelling at the fact that Cher is in her sixties.

Being a musical, Burlesque depends almost entirely on the songs, and thankfully all of them are pretty brilliant, both vocally and visually. Christina sounds much more comfortable here than she does on most of her own recent work, and Cher’s decade of constant live performance has made her voice even stronger than it was before. Her big number, ‘You Haven’t Seen The Last Of Me’, is (for me at least) an instant movie-musical classic.

The story is so, so predictable but that’s not really what anyone is going to see this movie for. A few laughs, a few moments that will make long-time fans of the lead actresses have a fit, and some really great songs. If you only see one musical about a Los Angeles club starring two legends* this year, Burlesque should be it.

*Cher and Cher’s hair.