Showgirls (1995) – Dir. Paul Verhoeven
Nomi Malone hitchhikes to Las Vegas with dreams of becoming a showgirl, only to discover a glittering world where authenticity is the rarest commodity and ambition demands a steep price.
Showgirls holds a singular distinction in cinema history: it remains the first and only NC-17 rated film to receive wide theatrical release. This bold gambit proved commercially disastrous, with the film earning a mere $37 million against its $45 million budget. Critics savaged it, and the NC-17 rating severely limited its audience.
Yet the story doesn’t end there. The home video market told a different tale entirely—Showgirls generated over $100 million in VHS sales and rentals, vindicating what cult film enthusiasts recognized immediately: this wasn’t the disaster mainstream critics proclaimed, but rather a wildly misunderstood work that demanded reassessment. In the decades since, Showgirls has undergone a remarkable critical rehabilitation, with audiences embracing its excess, its camp sensibility, and Verhoeven’s subversive vision. It has rightfully earned its place in the cult film pantheon.
Programming Note: An R-rated version exists, trimmed by three minutes to appease squeamish distributors. Despite Verhoeven’s involvement in this edit, purists should seek out the original NC-17 cut—it’s the only way to experience the full Verhoeven vision.