You Don't Nomi (2019)

November 12, 2022 9:44 AM

Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls (1995) was met by critics and audiences with near universal derision. You Don't Nomi traces the film's redemptive journey from notorious flop to cult classic, and maybe even masterpiece.

A documentary film by Jeffrey McHale.

Currently streaming in the US on AMC Plus and available for digital rental on multiple outlets. JustWatch listing.

posted by DirtyOldTown (11 comments total)

My letterboxd review was:

Is it just an excuse to show all the nudity and ridiculous bits of showgirls without the 'plot'? Unclear. Interesting though.

I definitely enjoyed watch it more than I did Showgirls.
posted by hfnuala at 10:08 AM on November 12, 2022

Clicked on this post hoping for something about Klaus Nomi. Hmmph.
posted by QuakerMel at 12:31 PM on November 12, 2022 [7 favorites]

Same, QuakerMel, same
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 3:19 PM on November 12, 2022 [3 favorites]

I liked this, as someone who is a fan of Showgirls's general WTF-ness, but it confirmed my preexisting suspicion that Verhoven is not so much a master of satire as a person with lurid bad taste and an impish sense of humor who sort of backed into being a satirist at just the right moment. I found the skeptical female film critic (Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, rewinding tells me) to have the most compelling interpretations of the movie, and she opens with "it's a drearily pedestrian and mainstream" story (but with the caveat that it lucked out to get an amazing director to film it). And I got a real try-hard vibe from the critic who wrote a whole book about how Showgirls is a misunderstood masterpiece, like, just enjoy your trashy film if you want to, you don't need to defend it to your film school professors or whatever. Still, I enjoyed the documentary.
posted by whir at 8:48 PM on November 12, 2022 [3 favorites]

I loved the Showgirls references in the Saved by the Bell reboot.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:57 PM on November 12, 2022

...like, just enjoy your trashy film if you want to, you don't need to defend it to your film school professors or whatever.

Now imagine an entire world run by film school professors!

Verhoeven's latest opus Anti-Hero Boom Shot coming 2024.
posted by fairmettle at 10:48 PM on November 12, 2022

Just a side note, but this season of AHS has a pretty clearly Klaus Nomi character although they don't actually call him that.
posted by miss-lapin at 1:28 AM on November 13, 2022 [3 favorites]

Verhoven is not so much a master of satire as a person with lurid bad taste and an impish sense of humor who sort of backed into being a satirist at just the right moment.

I'd split the difference. Robocop and Starship Troopers really are exceptional, and even Total Recall has its moments, but I don't think that anyone was holding a gun to Verhoeven's head when he agreed to film another Joe Eszterhas script after the shitshow that was Basic Instinct. Whatever imp of the perverse instructed him to do that seems to have been silenced, as his latest films are fairly straightforward dramas (Black Book, Elle, Benedetta). Maybe he just defies easy definition over the course of his career.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:31 AM on November 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

Just a side note, but this season of AHS has a pretty clearly Klaus Nomi character although they don't actually call him that.

I call him Klaus Not-me.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:51 AM on November 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

Verhoeven has given enough extended interviews discussing his work that I am comfortable considering everything he has done as very intentional.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:26 AM on November 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

Eh, I mean, he's definitely asserted over and over, post facto, that he was going for satire in Showgirls, I'm just not sure I believe him. Starship Troopers is an indisputable work of satire; Robocop for sure has some satirical elements though I would argue it's more of a straightforward action movie for most of its runtime. I think it's pretty hard to make the case for Basic Instinct or The Hollow Man as satire. Basic Instinct is surely campy in retrospect, as is Showgirls, but a lot of films are campy when the director didn't intend them that way.

And y'know, intentional fallacy and all, maybe it's not so important what Verhoven thought he was doing anyways, and the film stands alone for critics and viewers to decide about regardless of what he says in interviews. Just personally my money's on he made a bog-standard Esterhas erotic thriller, maybe cranked some scenes up to 11 for the fun of it, and then once the infamy died down a bit he gathered the latter-day Johnathan Swift mantle about himself (for just the three movies).
posted by whir at 9:06 PM on November 20, 2022