- Saturday, December 20, 2008
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Showgirls
Phyllis Wattis Theater
3:00 p.m.
Paul Verhoeven, 1995, 131 min.
"Before I get into all the sex stuff, I should tell you right off the bat: This is a really bad movie. No, I mean really bad." (The Spectator)
Back in 1995, lots of reviews began that way. A sometime candidate for not only the worst Vegas film but the worst film of all time, Showgirls is a masterpiece from controversial double-act director Paul Verhoeven and writer Joe Eszterhas. It stars Elizabeth Berkley, in a career-threatening role, as showgirl Nomi Malone making her way around the dark side of Vegas by playing the power game. It's a film about cynicism and nudity. Yet it has since become a bona fide camp classic, a film that takes trash cinema to new levels of intensity. It's something special.Part of Vegas Highs, Vegas Lows.
$5 general; free for SFMOMA members or with museum admission (requires a free ticket, which can be picked up in the Haas Atrium). Double features: films offered on the same date are included in one ticket. Tickets are available at the museum (with no surcharge) or online.
Buy tickets
Showgirls (still), 1995; photo courtesy of Photofest NYC
Film at SFMOMA is generously supported by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation.
Thursday Nights at SFMOMA are sponsored by Banana Republic. Virgin America is the official airline of Thursday Nights at SFMOMA.
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