Ali (Christina Aguilera) is a small-town girl with a big voice who escapes hardship and an uncertain future to follow her dreams to LA. After stumbling upon The Burlesque Lounge, a majestic but ailing theater that is home to an inspired musical revue, Ali lands a job as a cocktail waitress from Tess (Cher), the club's proprietor and headliner. Burlesque's outrageous costumes and bold choreography enrapture the young ingenue, who vows to perform there one day. Soon enough, Ali builds a friendship with a featured dancer (Julianne Hough), finds an enemy in a troubled, jealous performer (Kristen Bell), and garners the affection of Jack (Cam Gigandet), a bartender and fellow musician. With the help of a sharp-witted stage manager (Stanley Tucci) and gender-bending host (Alan Cumming), Ali makes her way from the bar to the stage. Her spectacular voice restores The Burlesque Lounge to its former glory, though not before a charismatic entrepreneur (Eric Dane) arrives with an enticing proposal...This movie features some of the lamest acting ever. Christina Aguilera is a phenomenal singer/dancer but no acting ability. Cher . . . . . . . . . is like a billboard for botox and has to be 704 years old at this point. The only good performance on an acting level - as always with him - was Stanley Tucci. That all being said, I for some reason really enjoyed this movie. I liked the performances. I liked the flow of the really simple story. I'm sure it helped that I had really low expectations for it.
I would strangely recommend people checking this out. Its nowhere near up to the level of recent musicals greatness (excluding Nine), but I still enjoyed it. Keep your expectations low. As for the PG-13 rating, this is easily as close to nudity throughout a movie I've seen with a PG-13 rating so be warned if you were interested in taking older children.
