Showgirls

Hey everyone, super producer Matt Lieb here.

Before we get started with today's episode of Free with Ads, where we're going to be talking about the amazing movie Showgirls, I wanted to say it's the first week of the Max Fun Drive.

The Max Fun Drive is a two-week-long celebration slash fundraiser of Maximum Fun, the very wonderful worker-owned co-op slash podcast network that hosts this very podcast.

And we have two wonderful fun things planned.

We're going to be doing two live streams during the fun drive.

The first one is today, that's Tuesday, March 18th, at 8 p.m.

Pacific Standard Time.

Jordan Morris, Emily Fleming, and I are going to be going live for one hour on the Maximum Fun YouTube channel, and we're going to be doing an AMA.

And then the week after that, Tuesday, March 25th at 8 p.m., we're going to be doing a live movie watch along Riff Tracks type thing where we all play the same movie at the same time and then you watch me, Jordan, and Emily talk about it.

It's going to be a lot of fun.

So if you are not subscribed to Maximum Fun's YouTube channel, do it now.

youtube.com slash at max fun hq that's youtube.com slash at max fun hq subscribe now and uh we will see you at 8 p.m pacific standard time tonight for the amazon

tonight for the

This is Free With Ads, the podcast that asked the question: why pay four bucks to rent a Star is Born when you can go online for free and watch another story about a fresh-faced ingenue trying to make it in showbiz that's objectively better because she eats dog food and shows her boobs.

I'm Jordan Morris.

And I'm Emily Fleming.

Today's movie is Show Girls.

It's what you little pigs have all been waiting for.

It's the 1995 bomb that might actually be a brilliant satire and a groundbreaking queer love story.

I don't know, unless it isn't.

With us always is super producer Matt hitting us with those nasty drops.

I'm so excited!

I'm so excited!

I am not the first one to say this, but I think there is a showgirl's head cannon where the movie is what happens to Jesse after she goes on her pep pill rampage and saved by the bell.

Like, oh,

I love her as a tall girl.

Jesse Spano was

the girl to me, and she did not disappoint with tall girl niss.

Niss.

This.

Yes, tall girlness in Showgirls.

This is a very special episode.

We are doing the movie that you have requested more than any other

because it's a very special time of year.

It's the Max Fun Drive.

Hooray!

It's the time of year where Max Fun comes to you, encourages you to join the network, and keep these shows coming.

We're going to talk about it later in the episode.

All the cool bonus stuff you can get, all the gifts, all the good feels.

So stay tuned for that.

But for now, if you want to see more about the MaxFun drive, go to maximumfund.org slash join.

And we're going to do it.

We're going to get to show girls.

But first, we're going to talk about something else we saw for free on the internet this week.

This is related to last week's episode on Pride and Prejudice, a movie

that we all loved.

This is a blue sky post

that podcaster Alex Jaffe tagged me in.

Thanks a lot, Alex.

You're a great guy.

This is a blue sky post from DJ Acid Reflux.

It reads, Much as I like Pride and Prejudice, I find it impossible to deny that this is the greatest review of all time.

And this is a one-star Amazon review of Pride and Prejudice that reads, just a bunch of people go into each other's houses.

I mean, it kind of is.

That's the movie.

I just

let's could we go back.

Can we go back to that time where if like anyone shows up your house up at your house and they have up a hood and they're wet with rain, they just get to come in.

Yeah.

What happened when America was great?

Can I tell you guys a fun story real quick?

So it's almost St.

Patrick's Day, or maybe by the time this comes out, it is.

Yes, I think by the time this comes out, it will have been St.

Patrick's Day.

Emily will have been missing for three days.

Yeah, motherfuckers.

So if you know where Emily went, please call the authorities.

So

as some of you know, I went to Catholic school.

I'm not Catholic.

My mom worked at the Catholic school, and so I got to go.

But everybody loved my mom because my mom is pretty amazing and charming.

But there was this guy named Johnny O'Shea, and he would just show up at our house all the time.

And he's one of those guys covered in rain.

Never shut up.

He was like an old man with big ears, and he was Catholic, and he just, he just loved our family, and he was just so.

So, is this your mom's Mr.

Darcy?

No, no.

My dad is.

My dad is.

I'm sure all men have a little bit of...

Mr.

Darcy of disinterest or whatever that things went went with.

I oftentimes can't read social situations.

Yeah, look at you, Jordan.

You're a Mr.

Darcy.

I am a real Mr.

Darcy.

I'll act weird at a party.

Honestly, I think out of the two of you, Jordan is the Mr.

Darcy.

Matt is the guy that he, you are

Mr.

Mr.

Bipple or whatever.

No, no, you're a little bit

from Chronicles of Vardia.

Yeah.

Don't make me horny.

Anyway,

Mr.

Tumness is hot.

Anyway, no, you're more of a, like,

whatever, her dad.

Aw, that's sweet.

Yeah, you're that guy.

But Johnny O'Shea would show up unannounced just at the house, and I would just be hiding because the amount of small talk I would have to do with this guy.

People who show up at your house.

What are we talking about?

We're talking about weather.

We're talking about local sports.

What was the small talk?

I don't even know.

I think I blacked out most of the time.

It was like, what are you doing in school?

I was like, nothing good because my grades were always bad.

That's the worst grown-up question to a skid kid.

What are you doing in school?

Not good.

Nothing good.

I hate it.

I don't enjoy it.

I just say drugs.

I'm on drugs.

Well, no, for me, it was just like anytime anyone asks, how are you doing in school?

I have never once said good ever, ever.

That was my whole life.

So glad I'm not a child anymore.

Anyway, Johnny O'Shea, nightmare, nice man.

But like the idea of people just coming to your house all the time, horrible, horrible nightmare.

Anyway, sorry.

Were you the one who wrote the one-star review?

Yes.

It was I.

What was the guy's name?

What was his profile?

This is like screen grabbed by a guy named DJ Acid Reflux.

So I think

that's a boy on the low.

Whoa.

Okay, before we get into show girls, I want to give you a quick trigger warning.

There is representation of sexual assault in this movie.

It is

something I don't think needs to be in this movie, personally.

And if you want to avoid the clip in the moment in the movie, which honestly, I suggest because I don't even want to watch it.

It's at one hour, 50 minutes.

29 seconds to one hour, 51 minutes, 56 seconds.

If you would also like to avoid this episode due to the subject matter, there are so many other episodes that we have that I think you'll enjoy, and please go listen to them.

But just wanted to let you know.

And with that being said, we're gonna play a little bit of music to allow you to pick another episode if you so choose.

We're back.

It's free with ads.

We're talking about showgirls.

Is it terrible?

Is it brilliant?

We will decide today on this podcast.

No, we won't.

It'll probably remain a mystery forever.

Before we start, y'all, have y'all seen this?

Emily, I know you have.

You write hard for this movie.

I do.

When was the first time you saw it?

I didn't see it till after college because, because, like, I don't know.

It was always, people always told me that this was just a bad movie.

Right.

No one ever explained to me why it was bad,

but I think the context was that it was porn.

Everybody told me it was just basically porn.

Right.

Which I, was this an NC17 movie?

Yes, it was.

It was, yeah.

And I think people say that it killed the NC17 rating.

I think that, like, really?

Yeah, I think that's, that's kind of the, like, the theory as to why we don't have more NC17 movies is that, like, Showgirls was such a huge, like,

you know, joke and a huge bomb that they just didn't want to do this anymore.

So, yeah.

Well, maybe that's true, but I mean, the rating system is created by a panel of like 17 unknown people

who are parents.

who no one can know.

They're anonymous.

Yeah, yeah.

The rating system is pretty low.

It's bizarre.

So, but anything, like at this point in the game, anything getting into theaters is a miracle,

let alone it being NC17.

But, like, that's pretty fascinating to me.

I'm trying to think of any other movies that were NC17 around that time period.

Oh, yeah.

The classic orgasmo.

Yeah, Trey Parker, Matt Stone movie.

That was NC17.

Yeah, yeah.

Because, I mean, like we're saying, the NPAA is a weird, you know, black box, totally nebulous.

So unless you're a big studio, they will not tell anything I'd say

that's what killed it because it wasn't even like hot.

Like it's just

it was just hilarious.

Yeah, exactly.

By the way, Matt has what laryngitis.

I have laryngitis.

I just want to point out, yes, thank you.

If you're wondering why I'm not a single person, you're not doing your sexy full sex voice for a sexy episode.

No, I'm sorry.

I just saw

showgirls, and so now I'm this guy.

I sound like I smoke a pack of cigarettes every five minutes because I saw showgirls.

I watched it in slow motion so I could see the jiggle jangle.

The jiggle jangle.

Not the jingle.

But my favorite thing is, Matt has had quite a few ailments.

He's a dad.

I'm always sick because I'm a dad.

Yeah, exactly.

But you've had Pink Eye up on this podcast.

No one could see it, but we can.

Now you can hear my pink yeah now all of you can suffer through whatever's going on instead of just us anyway

so yeah so that was nc17.

i can't remember anything else that was nc 17 like yeah this one was this was totally the most famous and uh honestly pretty like sucking on a nipple i was like shocked by a nipple yeah sure you don't often see that in a movie featuring a big star like elizabeth berkeley also an inverted nipple.

You know what?

Yeah.

Shout out to my sisters.

That's right.

That's right.

A lot of, you know, a lot of great nipple representation in this film.

That's right.

Are other kinds of representation good?

No.

No.

Nipples.

No, they are not.

Nipples that have a slit instead of a point.

That's my girls.

Beautiful.

Love to see.

We love to see our boobs on screen.

Oh, we love it.

There I am.

For real.

Well, my boobs, anyway.

Look at my boobs.

Matt, Showgirls?

No, I had not seen the movie.

So I'm just going to talk like this for the rest of the podcast.

You sound like you make porn in the 70s.

That's kind of what I'm going for.

That's what I'm going for.

I had not seen this movie before.

I had only heard about it.

And so for years, I've just seen clips.

And it kind of reminds me of like watching a clip of The Room, you know, with Tommy Waiseau.

So I kind of just thought we were in for one of those classic so bad it's good movies.

And I have to say, pleasantly surprised.

It is something else.

It is its own thing.

Also,

there was a lot of full frontal, which

like not male nudity, but full frontal female nudity, which I don't think I've seen such tasteful, like full frontal female nudity.

Yeah, you never see the slit.

You never see the slit in the pussy, but you see, like

a suggestion of pubic hair, but that's it.

Yeah, but it was, it was kind of beautiful.

Also, Gina Gershon, oh my gosh,

which is our girl.

Just so you know, there's a few people that are legendary to free with ads, and Gina Gershon is one of them.

We are a big fucking team.

Gina.

Team Gina.

Show.

Because I call her gina.

I'm sorry.

Stop it.

Stop.

We can't see the gina in the movie, Matt.

That's the point.

It's you don't profit.

But also, with that voice, do not speak her name.

Don't.

Uh-uh.

Jina Gershon.

No.

No.

Sorry.

Matt, read us a couple Bible verses.

Stop it.

In your racing track.

No.

Voice.

I hate it.

In the beginning, there was nothing.

God said, Let there be Jinnah.

Let there be Jina shows.

Let you do to the least of my brothers.

Is that what you do to these nuts?

Anyway,

Showgirls, we watched it.

So it opens on a truck stop.

We got hitchhiking Nomi Malone.

She gets picked up by a real Elvis-looking guy.

My God, the Chinese.

Or Johnny Bravo.

Oh, yeah.

Kind of a Johnny Bravo type guy.

The insane chin.

It looks like an old El Paso taco shell.

So he picks her up.

He says,

You can sit a little closer if you want to.

And she pulls a knife on him immediately and keeps this energy for the rest of the movie.

She's not always pulling a knife on someone, but her energy is, I'm pulling a knife on you.

Even when she's eating a burger, she's pulling a knife on that burger, baby.

Exactly.

She's dipping fries like she's shanking them in prison.

Yes,

Nomi is angry all the time, and maybe for good reason.

So

she's going to Vegas.

She's going to be a dancer.

They drive to Vegas while with her holding him at knife point.

And then they get to a casino.

He says, like, oh, I'm going to get my uncle to give you a job.

So she's like playing slots.

She starts winning immediately.

And kind of a scuzzy guy, a scuzzy matt voice type guy.

Hey, don't worry, I'm going to be right back.

I just got to go talk to my cousin who works at the Copacabana or whatever the fuck.

And this is like the first character to call her a prostitute.

Everyone in this movie calls her a prostitute all the time.

And like at this point in the movie, she is not dressed provocatively.

She's wearing...

Are you kidding?

But not like to the point where you would go, like, there's a prostitute.

Yeah.

No, but I mean, it is provocative, but that's only not a prostitute.

It's sexy.

Yeah, it's so funny.

It's Vegas.

Everybody should dress like a slut.

Like, I dress so slutty when I go to Vegas.

Totally agree.

And he says he's trying to, like, you know, get her to, you know, take money for sex.

And he's like, it won't take any longer than 15 minutes.

I like how he has a long amount of time to fall.

Just letting you know.

I like how he has a self-own in his pickup line.

Yeah.

I don't think people realize it.

I come so quickly.

With me, if I even see a boob, I'm already done.

Please.

Be honest.

Longer than 20 minutes is too long.

Yeah, totally agree.

It's too long.

It lasts as long as an episode of The Simpsons.

What are we doing?

Yeah, completely.

What are we doing?

I can't believe I'm saying this, but like, no, you're right.

That's true.

Like, if you want people to be quick, if you're a prostitute or a sex worker and you want to one time and you're done, like five minutes is too long,

in my opinion.

15.

Well, get out of here.

We're learning a lot on this episode.

Sorry.

People got to, bitches got to sleep.

Sure.

Bitches got to get up early.

Bitches got to take the recycling out to the curb.

No, bitches got to look at their phone.

I'm trying to scroll.

Can you hurry this up?

I'm trying to doom scroll.

Hurry up.

Bitches got to look at their Reddit comments to make sure people still like them.

Bitches are busy.

Bitches are really busy.

Bitches, be busy.

Wrap it up.

So this dude, Elvis Chin guy, he drove off with her suitcase in the car, and she freaks the fuck out.

I guess she's already freaked the fuck out.

To say

she's at the number which she is constantly at, which is 11.

She starts hitting the car next to where the, you know, where the guy drove off.

This car belongs to Molly.

This is like her best friend throughout the movie, but they start out by fighting.

Nomi throws up and she runs into the middle of the street.

What?

What?

This cute, this sequence of events is so insane and funny.

It like sets the tone for the movie.

It's like, yeah, people are just going to be fighting and throwing up constantly

and looking at each other longingly like they're going to kiss.

So Molly, despite being hit and thrown up near, decides she's going to cradle this woman's head in her bosom, look at her like they're going to kiss, and like take care of her.

So she meets Molly, who's like her, like beloved best friend.

It's kind of like a thing in this movie is that Nomi acts insane.

And then someone is like, let me take care of you.

I mean, it, yeah, it's pretty bad.

That's pretty bad.

And I think that, like, people talk about this movie.

I think Alonzo Duralde mentioned this when he was on the show: is that, like, people see this movie now as kind of this, like, fucked-up love story between Elizabeth Berkeley and Gina Gershon.

I think this is the love story.

Nomi and Molly, they have a really, like, cute, beautiful relationship, but

other than it being written weird, like, they have a really, like, nice chemistry together.

It would be nice if Molly had a characteristic other than so's good and is Nomi's friend, but

I think that they these two do like have chemistry and have like a really sweet relationship.

Um, it's true, this movie is kind of written as if it were a stage play in some uh parts of it.

It almost feels like it's meant to be a musical.

Oh, yeah, it kind of does want to be a musical, doesn't it?

The writing and the campy acting,

um, I'll be honest, the dance instructor character doesn't need to be there

uh right it exists just for a sexy dance number which only makes sense in a musical show well no i think that that character exists to claim that she's a good dancer right like i i think that's what that is right yeah but no i do think that

this movie which i when i first watched it i did not see as

very gay

sure yeah and like how intentional is that remains to be seen, but yeah, I mean, it is so

honestly, like, I, the minute that I watch that scene that we're talking about

where she's like, I lost everything, my suitcase is gone, whatever, and she's banging on this car, and this beautiful woman grabs her and goes, that's my car.

And they look at each other.

No, they look at each other in the the eye, and there is this like magnetic connection

where

Elizabeth Berkeley just glides her lips against the side of this woman's face and then cries in her shoulder.

I was like, Which is crazy because she just vomited.

She just puked.

So Elizabeth Berkeley's breath stinks during that.

Okay, so the last episode we talked about Pride and Precious, how Judy Dench's breath would like stink under

a blanket.

But this shit, crazy.

But also,

I don't know.

I don't think Elizabeth Berkeley's breath has ever stink.

It could be.

It could be.

Yeah, she could have fragrant, beautiful herbal vomit.

I would like to state, I am a straight woman, but this was so

beautiful and romantic and sexy that I was like, God damn, marry this woman.

Yeah, sure.

I know.

They do have a nice chemistry for sure.

The hottest shit that happens in this movie is between women.

It's so sexy and beautiful.

But yes, there is this very sexual moment of them connecting where I'm like, this feels out of place.

So Molly

takes her to the peppermill, which is an actual place in Vegas.

Have you ever been to the Pepper Mill, Emily?

I don't think so.

It still exists.

I would call the aesthetic of the peppermill Emily Core.

it is definitely like if if someone told me you designed it i would not be surprised it's this like crazy like campy diner that also has a bar that serves tiki drinks and is like always packed everybody's always hung over it's one of the coolest places in vegas if you're there the peppermill go to jordan that's so nice when you say that i will definitely go there next time i go and they have in this movie They have the hugest cups.

They bring out these giant cups and fries, and so they drink out of these enormous cups.

To be fair, it does say the big cup on it, so at least they know it's not like the world's weirdest prop.

Um,

and then Elizabeth Berkeley just fucking attacks a plate of fries, just stabs them in the ketchup.

This shit is so weird, like she's twisting the knife in Caesar's back.

She's like,

Two, know me,

say the fries

that she's stabbing.

This is how she fucks.

Yeah,

true.

She eats like she fucks.

Very weird and aggressive.

Very weird.

I honestly, like, yes, this is insane, but I also love it.

Like, I love it

because

it just adds this,

like, unhinged characterization.

Because what we've gleaned from this character is that she's been running from something.

Okay.

This is not just some regular Anchenou that is coming to Vegas.

This is somebody who has a knife.

Has a past.

Has a past, which

I'm going to be real.

I'm a little bummed about the reveal of her past.

I would have loved it if they never revealed it.

Agreed.

I agree with you 100%.

Yeah.

There was like a thing at the beginning where she's in the car with the douchebag where he, she goes, my mom's Italian.

And he goes, okay.

And I was like, ooh, what if she's like a mob

girlfriend who's like, you know, I got to get out of town.

And the mob is after her.

And like, what a more interesting story that would have been for a mob girl to be here.

Like, oh, don't fuck with me.

Like, that kind of thing.

Instead of what we got.

I just think that that would have been more interesting.

However, here we go.

We cut to six weeks later.

She's staying in Molly's trailer.

The trailer looks so much fun, very cute.

I imagine this is

a bedroom that Emily enjoyed, I would guess.

This is honestly my favorite

bedroom.

It's great.

I love it.

It's also a kitchen.

It's also a bathroom.

You got everything.

Well, it's my apartment.

One beautiful, one beautiful room.

It's your apartment.

Pretty much.

But the idea of being in Vegas and pursuing this life as a dancer with someone who is a costume designer, like you're both artists and you're both sharing this, and they're probably in their 20s too.

I'm like

almost 40.

Not as cute to

do that now.

It's still cute.

But like, everybody's cute.

We're all cute.

But no, it's cute.

Match, match cute.

I'm cute.

When he's down at the racetrack, fucking cute.

Cigarette butts off the ground.

I'm stabbing these fries sexually.

Size of my dick.

The idea of being, because I've lived in an apartment with five people in New York, but this idea of being two girls in New York, a showgirl and a costume designer in this cute spot, you know, in Vegas together, and you like each other and you're having fun and you're rooting for each other.

Adorable.

Adorable!

They have this very,

very strange, very funny interaction about chips.

Oh, yeah, where Molly is.

I just picked those up with her nails that she just painted.

Where Molly's like, I bet you're just going to sit at home eating chips.

And she's like, I didn't eat the chips.

You ate them.

It's like they write the weirdest dialogue for them, but it's so fun to watch because they're great and their chemistry is great.

This little fight about the chips is just like no one knew what to write for the scene where the women need to be having fun and liking each other.

Yeah, it was clearly written by a man, but like

the performances by these actresses were like, we'll make it work.

And they go for it.

And they totally go for it.

And yeah,

they're both great.

So Molly is a coincidentally, she's a seamstress at one of the biggest shows in Vegas.

Goddess, starring Crystal Connors, played by Gina Gershard.

She's a short brunette woman.

And yeah,

she, the

spectacular

crazy for this short brunette.

It's wild to me.

And she emerges from a volcano in the middle of the show.

I really like how the show goddess, they reveal scenes to us periodically throughout the movie, and each one is crazier than the last.

And just at the end, there's this sense of, what's this show?

And of course, everyone loves it because it's awesome, but like, who conceived of this thing that has volcanoes and monkeys and motorcycles?

Wild.

Someone just recreate this show and vacation.

Were the monkeys for that show or were they for another show and they just ended up?

Unclear.

Unclear.

There are monkeys backstage.

Yeah.

But

I get it.

Check off monkey.

You see him in the first act.

He's got to rip off your face and genitals.

I knew it.

I knew you were going to say that, Jordan.

Because as soon as I saw the monkeys, I went, Here we go, ripping off face and genitals.

Like, I knew that this is going to happen.

Listen, I got a

bag of tricks.

But it was like so

to be honest, though, I was more chill with the monkeys being back there than when the two children were back there.

And then I was like, ew, get the monkeys back here.

Rip those kids' faces off.

So

there's a big press conference for

Goddess.

Gina Gershon's boyfriend, Kyle McLaughlin, brings her flowers.

Hey, I think I know how hunk watch is going to go.

Can I say worst hat?

Yeah, sure.

You may.

Please.

Feel free to show the show to me.

It may not even be a hat.

It's just his hair.

Kyle McLaughlin's hair is the worst hat.

The worst hat.

That

side part crazy butt cut that he's got going on,

It's so thick.

I don't even see where the part gets to the skin.

Is that a toupee?

Is that not real?

I

don't know.

I don't know enough about this actor.

Is he a bald guy?

Oh, no.

He's got a fabulous head of pair.

Oh, yeah.

I think Kyle McLaughlin to this day has beautiful hair.

It looks like a Lego piece that got dropped on a perfectly handsome, good actor's head.

So, yeah, so

Nomi obviously wants to be in this show more than anything.

She goes back to meet Gina Gershon, who's just hanging around topless.

I like how she's just getting introduced to new people while she's topless.

I love it.

Nomi and Gina Gershon get into a big fight.

It turns out Nomi is working at Cheetah's.

Which we have one in Los Angeles.

Oh, yeah, there's a Cheetahs in Los Angeles.

I googled Cheetahs Las Vegas.

The club is still there.

It is now called the Library.

So if you're doing your showgirls tour of Vegas, the library is where

it's still a strip club.

You know, I think it is.

I don't think it's a public library.

Although that'd be the wildest, most Vegas shit in history.

So she's dancing at this at this strip club.

Gina Grashon and Kyle McLaughlin come in and

ask her for a lap dance.

She charges 500 bucks, and

they go into the back room.

Well, wait, wait, wait.

I think a very important distinction is that Gina Kershawn's character is beginning her toying with her.

Right, yes.

And this lap dance is her idea.

Like, it's a mind game.

This is a mind game.

Like, Kyle McLaughlin is also Gina Kershawn's toy.

Like, that's part of it.

He's the artistic director, but, like, fuck off.

He's she's who wants her to

dance on the man she's with.

And this begins the mind games of her.

And that lasts the whole movie.

Yeah, it's crazy.

I mean, it's both.

It's both Kyle McLaughlin and her, but I love the psychological mind games of the women in this movie.

So Nomi gives him this lap dance.

She kind of bends over backwards and kind of like flails around.

We'll see his position later in the movie in the famous pool sex scene.

And wouldn't you know it?

Kyle McLaughlin, he comes in his pants.

That's right.

And so, yeah, that's kind of like the start of their flirtation, Nomi and Kyle McLaughlin.

But also, Gina Gershon, because she's turned on.

Yeah, she loves them.

She's watching them.

With her mouth open.

With her mouth open, and she's grinding on a chair, watching them.

Like, in my opinion, this is a

like Gina Gershon is a

sexual psychopath.

Like, I

love her so much.

Like, I really wish that there was more to this movie.

I want to know more about Gina Gershon's character because this seems like a woman who

is the biggest femme fatale of all time.

And.

The crazy thing is this movie is about another femme fatale.

And it's like two femme fatales at the the same time.

I just wish this movie had ended in a different way that it did.

So Nomi gets an audition to be in Goddess.

There's a funny thing with Molly kind of along the line of the chips scene where she's like, I'll buy you a burrito or maybe fajitas.

Burrito.

They say fajitas like it's a joke.

Anyway, very weird.

Again, they're selling this very, very weird dialogue.

And so she has this audition for Tony Moss, the asshole guy in charge of goddess who says, I don't care if you live or die.

That's how he starts the audition.

He's also the dad of Dharma from Dharma and Greg.

Oh, fun.

Is he a total asshole in that who makes people put ice on their nipples?

Well, no.

That would be crazy if that's what Dharma and Greg was about.

I mean, he's just a white guy with a ponytail, which

check check, I guess.

So he's got range is what you're saying he's got range

so she gets the job she quits the strip club uh we see her uh kind of go back and do all of her like paperwork to start the show and we see a bunch of uh christmas decorations guys showgirls is a christmas movie no wired die hard is a christmas movie wired showgirls is a christmas movie new christmas tradition piss off your family put on showgirls when you're home for christmas and so uh we get the monkey scene.

There's a bunch of monkeys back there.

That is so fucking crazy.

Do you think they just had some and they were like, let's put it in there?

Yeah, write them in the movie.

It's a ton of fun.

One of the monkeys puts on makeup.

We love this.

Elizabeth Berkeley betrays how

low class she is by pronouncing Versace Versace.

A pretty funny joke.

They do it like 10 times in the movie.

And it's like, all right, really do it too many times.

Yeah, that's like when a little kid tells a joke and gets a laugh.

He just keeps doing it and keeps doing it.

That's them and Versace.

Versace, Versace.

All right, we get it.

But it does funny the first time.

It does have narrative usefulness because it is how you find out that Kyle McLaughlin's character is a good dude.

Because he's the only one who corrects her pronunciation.

He's not a good dude.

Well, he's able to manipulate his character.

Right.

At this point in the movie, you're supposed to think he's a good dude because he's the only one who corrected her.

Well, the other thing is that.

Lovingly.

Lovingly.

Well, lovingly, but you also, like, notice how he's able to do good guy shit to manipulate her.

Yeah, yeah.

He's also manipulative.

Well, I think that his character is

well written.

Like, I really do like the way that they wrote his character because he will portray that he's being a good guy.

to be like, oh, I'll make sure that the bad guy gets a talking to or gets fired.

And then he'll call that guy and goes, I'm fucking kidding.

Like,

that is true.

Like, there are people who will, like, I, I, sometimes I don't like the way that movies portray bad dudes because it makes it so fucking over the top.

That's not how men act.

Like, right.

Yeah.

Where it's not, like, useful or believable, but I found his character to be very believable.

Like, I,

I liked watching how slimy and horrible men are in this industry.

Right.

Where I felt like I learned something personally.

There were moments like that, and his character was one of them.

But yeah.

So Gina Grishon has kind of roped her into this web.

She's in the chorus of goddess, and they go out to Spago.

Everyone has encouraged Elizabeth Berkeley to only eat brown rice and vegetables.

And so

I think you've seen this movie, you know what clip we're about to play, but I think it's worth playing because it is it is it is iconic.

This is this is our generation's Luke, I am your father.

This is what her and Gina Gershon talk about while they're at lunch at Spago.

Matt, can you play this clip?

I have had dog food.

You have?

Long time ago.

Doggy Chow.

I used to love Doggy Chow.

I used to love Doggy Chow, too.

Is that normal?

They never talk about it again.

It does not.

It does not come up at any other point in the movie.

Also, they do this weird little cheers with chips.

Yeah, chips keep coming up at the moment.

Cheers, too.

The fact that we both ate doggy chow and liked it.

I think it's just that they're both

from

poor families, but also both probably psychotic bitches who had to fucking kill to get where they are.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

They're both survivors, I think, is kind of what that's implying.

Like, they survived some shit, which is fine.

It's just doggy chow is a funny name.

So there is a little bit of American psycho for women that I feel like in this movie where it's like, and I wish they leaned into it more where I think Nomi is a serial killer like I think that she's on the road she fucking crushes it at a bunch of

pieces and then dudes fuck with her and then she kills people like I think that and I feel like our girl here um Gina Gershon sees herself in this woman and I also feel like Gina Gershon

in my opinion, this is my horny analysis.

She is a superstar who has appealed to men her entire career,

but has never been sexually satisfied by men.

And this woman is like, she

is psycho.

Like, she's got a psychotic kind of thing.

She's looking at her like, you're my new doggy chow.

Well, also, you could be the end of my career

but also i've never been hornier in my life

yes uh while we're talking about iconic lines in this movie i think there's one more we need to play um and then we'll we'll we'll get to the end um this is so she quits the strip club at the strip club there are two weird characters a um a the strip club owner who is nothing but a scumbag to her and uh henrietta henrietta bazooms this kind of like

comedian stripper who has a dress that falls down.

Yeah, yeah.

And she is very, very funny.

But they come to see her at

Goddess, and it's this kind of

weird scene that they're playing.

Like, these are her parents coming to tell her good job.

And the sleazy strip club owner says this to her.

Saw the show,

you were good.

Thank you all.

Real good.

You take care, kid.

Must be weird not having anybody come on you.

Have you laughed harder?

Have you Matt, having not seen this movie, did that hit you like a fucking mad?

Huge laugh.

Huge laugh.

I was like,

you had such a good scene.

It was great.

And then they were like, no, before you leave, talk about come.

No, do it.

Just so you can remind people that this is horny movie.

Like,

they didn't need to do it, and it was so perfect.

Also, is that actor a Dick Tracy villain?

I know.

I know.

The whole time I'm looking at him, I'm like, it's not makeup.

He's just born with Dick Tracy face.

Well, yeah, I think he's, yeah, anyway, I, I think,

in my opinion, I've had men say like

weird shit like that.

Yes, and it's their way of saying, I'm bummed that you're moving on.

Right,

right.

And I want to get one

other knock, like one other fuck you out to be like,

well, no, me, she's a huge star, um, and we are headed toward the tragic fall, of course.

Uh, so we're gonna talk about the end of Showgirls, but first, we're gonna tell you about some exciting stuff you can get if you support this show and the worker-owned co-op that is maximumfund.org in the max fun drive.

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Okay, back to show girls.

I love you.

We're back.

It's free with ads.

We're talking about Showgirls.

The best movie of all time, the worst movie of all time.

Yes.

Yes.

It is.

So, Nomi, she's famous.

She's hooking up with Kyle McLaughlin.

They have a very insane sex scene in a pool where she kind of like straddles him in the pool.

We get a Kyle McLaughlin butt shot.

You know, obviously, this movie could use a little more male nudity.

I think everybody can agree.

Oh, 100%.

Nice tush on McLaughlin or his body double.

My biggest gripe is that she goes to give him a blow job under the water.

How do you do that without death?

Like, how?

Like, I don't know how you do that.

I think this is like an impressionistic scene that is not meant to represent any actuality.

Okay, all right, okay.

Well, that's.

No, no, I, I, but I think people debate this scene a lot of like, what has anyone involved with this movie had sex?

Whereas this movie seems to imply that they have not here's the thing i've had sex in a pool uh

hell yeah it requires

moisture and you wouldn't think that because it's water you'd think water is wet but it's not this it is

like there's other lubricant involved i think everyone learns this at some point in their life that it's like oh wait pool sex isn't real what i saw here is that she's doing like another version of the dance she did for him Yes.

I don't think she is meant to be having sex with him in that position.

I think the idea is that she is getting off for the first time.

Like she's doing the thing for him, but it's for her benefit and not for his.

So I think the idea is that she's a little more empowered in this scene, and I think that she's kind of like using him instead of him using her.

That was kind of my read.

I think that's a nice way to look at this.

But I think when you watch the movie, it just looks like, oh, the filmmakers have not had sex and don't know how it works.

But so, you know, definitely adds to the funny, weird part of the movie.

But I think if you're being generous.

So she goes to this big, big fancy party where she's, oh, Gina Grashan, she pushes Gina Gershon down the stairs.

I don't think we mentioned that.

So she sabotages Gina Gershon, falls down these metal stairs.

And I think she's into it.

Yeah, I mean, I think as we kind of see at the end, we think Gina Gershon kind of respects her for this move.

But she's now the new lead of Goddess.

She goes to this fancy party with this kind of like rock star dude that's there.

You know, this is the thing we alluded to at the top of the show.

This dude and his cronies like assault Molly, her friend.

It's a real bummer.

This movie is so much fun, and this is like a shitty scene and doesn't need to be there.

And, you know, I think it just is this Edgelord darkness.

So it is unfortunate.

And then I think we all agree that you can skip it and you can still have a lot of fun with the movie.

Absolutely.

Yes.

So yeah, so that happens, but Nomi, being the wonderful friend that she is, goes to

her.

And the psycho that she is, goes to this dude's hotel room and karate kicks him, not to death, but she really karate kicks him a lot.

I guess it's supposed to be like dance fighting.

Anyway, she fucks this dude up.

I think he died.

Yeah, I think she killed him.

No question.

She fucking killed him.

I think she killed him.

It was a lot of blood.

Dude.

Yeah.

It was amazing.

She was yelling, fuck you, fuck off, while she was doing it, which is really funny.

Yeah, so we kind of learned that she, uh, that she used to be a prostitute and was kind of like on the run.

So yeah, I agree, a little bit anticlimactic.

But also, you could be a prostitute and still be a bunch of other things.

Yeah, sure.

And yeah, and I think it like, you know, and I think that you would like this movie to be, you know, more like pro-sex work, but it's not.

And, you know, like, it's, you know, it's kind of like

a crummy anticlimactic ending.

Or that part of it, at least, I do love her beating the shit out of this guy and just

returning to the same side of the road we found her on in the beginning of the movie.

She sticks out her thumb, and the same fucking taco chin guy picks her up

and she pulls one last knife as they drive out to Los Angeles, where the sequel that never happened was supposed to take place.

And that's funny.

Showgirl.

Showgirl.

God, it was like, had so much potential to be

a different movie so much more

if just if just 90% of the things were different.

I'd say

if 50% of the things were different.

Yeah, right.

That's fair.

That's Jeff.

Agreed.

Agreed.

Well, yeah,

we've got to do our wrap-ups.

But first, we got to do Hunk Watch.

It's Hunk Watch.

It's Gina, bitch.

It's Gina Gershon.

Yeah, I mean, obviously, Gina Gershon, her name is, you know, her jersey is in the rafters of Free With Ads.

She is a legend, always will be, looks great.

All-star.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know.

I'm always happy to see Kyle McLaughlin and things.

I like him.

You know, the tush was nice.

That side butt cut situation.

Look, maybe the butt cut ruined it for you.

No, thank you.

My hunk watch.

Yes, that's, I don't remember the name of the character, but it's like the

large lady, MC.

She's my favorite.

I think

the queen of the bazooms.

Yes, because there's this,

she has this hilarious contraption on her dress that pulls down her,

basically pulls down her dress to reveal her breasts, and it makes the funniest sound.

And I have that here.

It just sounds like wind.

There it is.

These little phoofs where it goes, foof.

And I believe she had painted on nipples.

I don't believe those were her actual nipples.

They were good tits, though.

I got to say that.

They were.

They were great.

They were great.

Something funny about her.

There are many funny things about her.

She is great and definitely like giving the big camp performance that I think this movie needs.

We see her in a different dress later in the movie that also does that.

That also haunts

me.

I love that just all of her clothes haunt and fall down.

She only wears parody clothes.

She only wears her.

She only wears comedy clothes.

I love her.

As soon as I saw this, I was like,

I love strip clubs, by the way.

It's the thing that I've been doing.

Oh, sure.

Some of them have buffets.

Did you know that?

I do know that.

That's why I go to strip clubs for the buffets.

Okay.

Personally, I have terrorists.

I have terrifying my eyes when the the tits come out.

I avert my eyes.

I have to get out of here.

I'm just there for just a while.

When you get laryngitis, you revert

to your single version of yourself.

Little horny guy.

Yeah.

You sound like a fucking radio host.

He's like,

horny guy at

babe in the morning.

And the Nabler.

Well, we've talked about the hunks, and now we're going to talk about what we think of Showgirls overall

after this break, where we talk about the pledge drive here at maximumfun.org.

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All right.

Back to Showgirls.

We're back.

It's Free With Ads.

We are going to rank Showgirls on a scale of one to ten super loud commercials and decide once and for all, is this brilliant or is it trash?

Matt, as the first timer

and the one with the voice that sounds like it belongs to a character in the movie, let's hear about what you think first.

I'm going to give this movie a solid 7.5.

Ooh.

I loved it.

I hated it a little bit.

But then I loved it again.

And what is that?

A solid B?

It's a B.

So I'm giving it a 7.5.

Truly, I thought it was pretty good.

Everyone said it was shitty.

Everyone acts like it's the worst movie ever made, but it was pretty good.

Yeah.

Emily, I'll let you take it home, drive the nail into the coffin.

And I will say that if I was going to rank it, I wouldn't give it a B.

I'd give it a double D.

Oh, I can have Layer and Giants too.

No, I'm going to give this an 8.

This movie is like so much fun.

It is so fun to debate whether or not it's serious, whether or not it's supposed to be funny.

Like, I think that the mystery is part of it.

It's a great party movie.

It's a great drink and game movie.

Yeah, but I also think it does have some satire stuff that

really works.

I think that like a big theme of this movie is like rich people trying to control poor people.

And it's like, you know, 2025, a pretty fucking good, good satire angle to watch in 2025.

And I think that like...

The Elizabeth Berkeley character, Nomi, is she's so insane and so angry all the time.

And it's like, that is funny, but also like fucking good.

You should be mad at rich people.

You should be mad at rich people and tell them fuck you if they try and control you.

It's like

she's, it's such a compelling character because like

that's how we feel, you know, that is how you feel when you're poor and people are trying to like tell you what to do and control you.

So yeah, I think that like

that part of it, like, it is so funny to watch her act like that, but also like, yeah, I don't know.

Fucking good.

Do it.

Stab him.

kick him in the face, do it.

You should

tell me you're a star.

Uh, so yeah, I'm giving it an eight.

There's some, you know, there's some stuff we mentioned that's like not super fun to watch and takes some of the fun out of it.

But, um, yeah, showgirls, it's it's if you're curious, it's definitely worth a watch.

I'm giving it an eight, Emily.

All right, I'm also gonna give it an eight.

I truly

hate the depiction of sexual violence.

I think it is the worst that I've ever seen in any movie, personally.

But

if you put that aside, I think this movie is cool as fuck.

Like

Elizabeth Berkeley also, I know, got a lot of grief about her performance.

She was from, you know, Save by the Belle and everything.

But as a tall girl myself,

I've always admired her out of all the characters.

And she's also a dancer.

She's incredibly talented.

I know that her performance was over the top.

Like she's eating a burger harder than anybody's ever eaten a burger before.

But like

I liked it.

I thought it was super cool.

Some things about Elizabeth Berkeley.

She, after this, went on to

like write a book and start an entire program about building self-esteem with teen girls.

And it became a big piece of success in her life like bigger than I knew actually

and then she ended up marrying this guy who is a clothing designer and nephew of Ralph Lauren

and I am a Ralph Lauren freak by the way like

she is the first woman to wear a Ralph Lauren wedding dress oh I love that

I know.

Anyway,

so

I loved it.

Well, hey, that's it.

We finally did show girls, you little, you little piggies.

Slop you wanted.

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