The Flip Medley

+

Okay, here’s a weird double-header of “Eyes Wide Shut” and “Showgirls” because one is all about a man who is trying desperately to be amoral in order to compensate for a phantom case of infidelity, and the other is about an amoral manipulative sociopath stripper cum showgirl who shows she cares about her friend by beating the snot out of a rapist.

So both are about people moving along the morality spectrum….

And both are movies that, in truth, you really have to s-t-r-e-t-c-h to say that they’re any good.

Both are directed by well known artists whose legacies are slightly tarnished by these two films.

(Granted, Kubrick and Verhoeven are big name directors, but their legacies aren’t enhanced by these films… both are better known for other works…)

Both have leading men who turn in remarkably drab performances as if they were channeling he passion of a dead carp floating in a bathtub full of water.

(Only George C. Scott can probably appreciate that last analogy…)

They even look like they are cut from the same cloth… I swear they have the same set of wigs.

Leading men in these movies come in two flavors. Smarmy and aspiring to be amoral and…



…smarmy and amoral.

Other similarities:

Both showcase “sexy female leads” who look clinical and boring compared to other supporting female roles. In “Showgirls”, Gina Gershon exudes more sex appeal in her pinky finger than Elizabeth Berkley does during the entire film — including her “Aaargh! I’m being eaten by a shark!”-sex scene. In “Eyes Wide Shut”, the so-young-I’m-thinking-this-may-be-illegal-to-even-think-she’s-hot-Leelee Sobieski exudes more sex appeal during her brief appearance as the foil in two Asian fetishists fantasy than Nicole Kidman channels during any of her scenes with Tom Cruise.

She’s hotter than two lipstick lesbians making out.



She reminded me of a younger Helen Hunt, and I’m still “mad about her“….

I know I should be recommending good movies, but… well, hey, nobody’s perfect.