Steve antin gay
“Burlesque,” the new affectionate musical drama featuring Cher and Christina Aguilera, is a labor of admire for the film’s passionate writer and director, Steve Antin.
On the smartphone from Los Angeles, Antin explains what prompted him to create this motion picture, about a new girl named Ali (Aguilera), who goes to Los Angeles in search of her dreams and finds work in a failing burlesque lounge run by Tess (Cher).
“I romance song and move entertainment, and feel-good movies,” Antin says enthusiastically. “The unique world of burlesque lends itself to a musical film because of the nature of it — it’s a pastiche of authentic entertainment, a homage taken from the popular/current zeitgeist of the time.”
The filmmaker becomes more animated as he describes “Burlesque” further: “It’s a throwback to the musicals of the Hollywood era, a Broadway musical come to existence, a fun, sexy movie that appeals to mass society. The original shape was from 1700s Europe. I wanted to make a film like that, with a true linear thread that connects back to what Burlesque originally was.”
Antin’s own career started in front of the camera as an performer when he was 9. He achieved considerable exposure in the 1982 teen sex
Steve Antin
A certain garishness goes with the territory, but the rest is all writer-director Steven Antin's doing in "Burlesque," an overwrought, underwritten hootchy-kootchy tuner that desperately wants to be "Cabaret," but lacks the edge and historical context to pull it off. Unfolding with the wide-eyed innocence of a classic MGM musical, in which an orphaned country girl -- played by vocally endowed, acting-challenged pop star Christina Aguilera -- finds her place within the dysfunctional family of a racy Sunset Strip nightclub, "Burlesque" partially redeems its clumsy drama through infectious song and dance, enough to win over a midsize teen (and gay) following. Aguilera plays Ali, an Iowa waitress of indeterminate age who can't stand one more minute in her dusty tiny town, quits her job and then sticks around to sing an opening number (an Etta James cover) before catching the bus to Los Angeles. Her dreams aren't big -- just something better than she left behind -- and she realizes them in the Burlesque Lounge, a retro-styled shared where scantily clad, stunningly beautiful showgirls outnumber the customers, performing a mix of old and new songs.
"Burlesque" is to its n
CHER AND CHRISTINA AGUILERA IN BURLESQUE
Iowa girl makes good
Remember that famous 1920's advertising tag line for mail-order melody lessons? "They Laughed When I Sat Down at the Piano. But When I Started to Play!"
That's more or less the premise of this slick, entertaining, but generic little movie musical starring Cher, Christina Aguilera, Cam Gigandet and Stanley Tucci. Small-town girl Ali (Aguilera), an orphan since the age of seven, runs away from Iowa to Hollywood hell-bent on making it as a singer and dancer. She winds up immediately at the Burlesque Club, a display bar run by Tess (Cher) threatened with bank repossession. The super-eager Ali wangles a job as cocktail waitress by getting friendly with bartender Jack (Gigandet). Tess laughs at Ali when she bids to try out as a dancer -- but oh, when she starts to dance! Tess and her stage manager Sean (Tucci) are instantly mesmerized. Later when another resentful performer pulls the plug on the music -- usually the dancers lip-sync to famous records -- Ali belts out a song, without even needing a mike. Oh boy! She's so good, Tess immediately decides to assemble a whole new display aroun
Steve Antin
Now:
Steve Antin played Rick in The Last American Virgin (1982).
I saw The Last American Virgin when I was in high school. It’s one of those raunchy sex manipulation films for teenagers. There’s a few good laughs, but unlike Porky’s and many of the others, LAV isn’t a beam comedy. It has a harsh edge to it. The main character Gary, played by Lawrence Monoson, is insecure, not exactly a social success, and he is desperate to fit in, make friends and find a girlfriend. The film has some fun with that, but genuine angst runs deep throughout the story. You feel Gary’s pain, and he gets his heart broken in the end, too. But before then, he and his buddies Rick and David have a few randy adventures. Rick and David are a couple of sleazy, self-centered boys who treat girls like sex objects, and Gary allows himself to be pushed around by them.
Like many teenagers, I was drawn to the movie because it was about boys my age, and it dealt with sexuality in a immediate, if at times brutal way. When you’re in your mid to late teens, and you̵