Burlesque

Burlesque will not be winning any awards for the most original concept; small town girl escapes her boring life to follow her dream and make it big. Think Hairspray but without the fat and message of equality and then think of Chicago but without the great acting, great story and definitely without the Oscar winning content; then you have a fair idea of what Burlesque might be like. Small town girl Ally (played by Christina Aguilera in her debut feature) leaves her boring life to live the big dream in Hollywood. This dream leads her to a fabulous Burlesque club owned by Tess (Cher) which instantly ignites Ally's desire to be apart of the club's show. She befriends bartender Jack (Cam Gigandet) and costume designer (Stanley Tucci) who help her pave the way to her dream. Meanwhile Tess is dealing with a growing debt and the ever looming possibility of losing her club.
The film has some really nice moments, all of these though would in fact be the musical numbers which have seductive costumes, appealing production design, catchy tunes and entertaining choreography. Christina Aguilera is one amazing singer and her talent is put to great use when performing the musical numbers. Her debut as an actor, while a bit shaky should still be applauded. It is Cher though that I had a stronger connection with. I don't know if it was because her greater acting skills made you care more about her story or whether she just had the more interesting character, but her struggle was what kept the film interesting. And let me just say that, even with all of Cher's plastic work and with her inability to move most of her face, she can still bloody well act. Stanley Tucci is amazing as usual. While Cam Gigandet, who was casted well as the love interest due to his appearance, becomes annoying easily.
I had a massive issue with the camera work, sure handheld can work well and look amazing but this camera work was all over the place. Even some of the tracking shots jolted quite a bit. The jolting camera distracted and completely ruined any chance to connect with Cher's heartfelt song in particular.
Burlesque's main problem is the fact that the story and characters are too underdeveloped. When the film begins we seem to be following Ally's dream of making something of her life but when she achieves this early on in the film the focus then switches to Tess. We then begin to follow a love triangle with Ally. Back to Tess. Back to Ally. The film just doesn't know what it wants to be. It is obvious that a lot of time and energy was put into the musical numbers instead of the underdeveloped story. The musical scenes do pay-off but when it is one of the only redeeming factors for the film...is it really worth it?
2.5/5