Film Review – You Don’t Nomi (2019)

The year was 1995. Bruce Willis had stormed back into favour after a string of flops with the third (and arguably best) Die Hard, Tom Hanks took to the stars in Apollo 13, Kevin Costner wrestled with water and The Dark Knight returned after a three-year hiatus with a new lighter, brighter, neon-infused look and feel, becoming the year’s biggest release.

But later in the year, one film would become even more synonymous with the year it was released and, in a strange way, is perhaps the best remembered and sought after out of them all. On September 22nd, Paul Verhoeven unveiled Showgirls.

Reviled by critics across the world on its initial release, the film has joined The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Valley of the Dolls, and The Room to take its place in the firmament of cult cinema. Midnight showings with copious amounts of dressing up quote-alongs later and Showgirls has been given a second, third, even fourth life with its energetic, feverish fans not allowing it to die nor be left with as a colossal failure.

Indeed, when released, it was considered one of the worst films ever made upon release but after countless reappraisals, Verhoeven’s smorgasbord of sex, nudity, violence may well have just been ahead of its time.

Through retro interviews with the cast and crew, as well as discussions with authors and critics who have since delved deeper into the film’s history, its themes and meanings about self-worth, self-sacrifice and the pursuit of American Dream ideals, as well as its huge influence on the LGBTQ+ communities the world over, You Don’t Nomi sets out to celebrate everything the film has done right and why, in 1995, it was a case of a society being not quite ready for what it was trying to say and trying to be.

The film, from director Jeffrey McHale, may not provide anything revelatory or completely sell you on the idea that the film was horribly misjudged 25 years ago, but what it does do is celebrate it for what it is, warts and all. It lacks a cutting edge from those close to the film – with only retro interviews and some brief clips from recent times used – but in that celebration, it opens your eyes to the possibility of enjoying the film and seeing it in a different, clearer light than you ever thought possible.

★★★

Documentary | USA, 2019 | 15 | 12th June 2020 (UK) | Digital HD / VOD | Bulldog Film Distribution | Dir.Jeffrey McHale |

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