Two singing sensations come together in this take of a neo-burlesque nightclub. Christina Aguilera stars as Ali, a small-town girl who escapes her small-town life at a shot for fame in the City of Angels, Los Angeles. When searching for a job, as most of us would after moving to a new town spontaneously, she stumbles across the ‘Burlesque Lounge’. She walks into the building just in time to catch Tess, performed by Cher, suitably performing the number “Welcome to Burlesque”. In typical fashion, Ali decides that she wants to perform in the club. She manages to snag a job under Tess’s nose with help from the bartender Jack (Cam Gigandet) and is able to work in the club secretly learning each of the routines while serving her customers. Jack, the bartender who wears eyeliners and is not gay, allows Ali to stay at his place after hers got broken in to. Again in typical cliché fashion, boy falls in love with girl despite having a fiancée in New York. And despite the heat rising between them there is no sex scene because of the PG-13 rating (what they can curse like hell but can’t see a bit of nudity, you hypocrites!).
As the movie progresses, you learn that Tess’s ex-husband Vince (Peter Gallagher), who co-owns the club, wants to sell it off to Marcus (Eric Dane) who wants to tear the club down and put up condos. Though a background plot, Marcus seems to take a shine to Ali’s character when she finally gets her wish to be in the Burlesque show.
When Ali is given her fame, she finds herself spending more time with Marcus and less time with Jack. At this point it continues in typical love savvy way, and eventually a happy ending is given to them. But not before Ali steps up to Tess and helps her save her club.
In my opinion, I enjoyed the musical numbers, everything after that was pretty much forgetful. The characters weren’t memorable except for the two leading ladies, and even that was only because they are the main singers in the movie. I did enjoy the witty banter you got from Stanley Tucci’s character who is the stage manager for the club and the minor funny performance from Alan Cummings, but the rest was lacking depth. It is a good movie to watch ON DEMAND if you have nothing better to do, or you are interesting in seeing how remarkable Christina acts for her first time.
2/5
