You Don’t Nomi (2019)

Directed by: Jeffrey McHale | 92 minutes | documentary | Starring: Matthew Baume, Jeffery Conway, Joshua Grannell, April Kidwell, Haley Mlotek, Adam Nayman, David Schmader, Elizabeth Berkley, Joe Eszterhas, Gina Gershon, Kyle MacLachlan, Paul Verhoeven, Roger Ebert, Gene Siskel

It was a rare big flop when it was released in 1995: ‘Showgirls’. The erotic thriller by Paul Verhoeven – about aspiring dancer and stripper Nomi (Elizabeth Berkley) who goes to Las Vegas – flopped enormously in the cinemas, and was razed to the ground by the press and the public. The film has been characterized more than once as “vulgar”, “sexist” or simply as “curiously bad”.

“Showgirls” would eventually “win” seven Razzies (plus a Razzie for Worst Picture of the Decade), and more than once referred to as one of the worst movies of all time. But the film also gained an unexpected cult following after its flop in theaters: the rental and sale of videotapes brought in more than 100 million dollars, and its campy nature ensured a slowly growing fan base.

Verhoeven himself also saw the humor in it, and was not afraid to receive the countless Razzies (the ‘film prizes’ for the worst films that are awarded annually) for, among others, Worst Film and Worst Director. This healthy dose of self-mockery certainly gave Verhoeven some extra (re-)appreciation, after the merciless flop of ‘Showgirls’ had knocked him off his American pedestal (see classics like ‘Robocop’ and ‘Basic Instinct’).

About 25 years later, debuting director Jeffrey McHale decided it was high time for some extra appreciation for Verhoeven and ‘Showgirls’. Certainly, the film had already built up a new (cult) status here and there and several critics even called it a ‘misunderstood masterpiece’. Film critic Adam Nayman, for example, wrote the book It Doesn’t Suck, in which he explains that the film is much smarter and more in-depth than viewers and critics (initially) thought. The documentary ‘You Don’t Nomi’ further explores what Verhoeven actually had in mind while making ‘Showgirls’. An anti-capitalist satire? A merciless portrait that breaks with all Hollywood clichés? Or simply an uncompromising break with the fable of The American Dream?

That reappraisal that ‘You Don’t Nomi’ boasts is in any case a recurring phenomenon in Verhoeven’s career. The controversy surrounding possible homophobia in ‘Sputters’ drove the Dutchman to the United States, while ‘Starship Troopers’ was also mercilessly sacked by many (American) critics when it appeared, but is now seen as a prophetic science fiction classic. The films were simply not read the way they were intended: Verhoeven has always been a satirist pur sang who never hesitates to kick holy houses or the distorted fantasy of the American Dream.

The satire in a film like ‘Starship Troopers’ was only picked up more than twenty years later, and several critics praise ‘Showgirls’ all those years later for this satirical aspect. For example, film critic Michael Atkinson wrote that Verhoeven is ‘the bravest and most confident satirist in Hollywood, making genre films that no one knows whether to take seriously’. The amount of nudity, sex and wooden dialogues ensured that ‘Showgirls’ and Verhoeven completely misunderstood the film, or did not take it seriously enough.

It is therefore not surprising that McHale wanted to dive a little deeper into the film, where he mainly gives the floor to advocates of the film, combined with archive footage of the cast and crew. In contrast to the audience and the news, McHale takes the film very seriously. It provides an interesting look at what Verhoeven and the film actually had to say, in contrast to all the nudity and violence to which ‘Showgirls’ owes its infamous reputation.

In the end ‘Showgirls’, like many other works by Verhoeven, turns out to be a completely misunderstood satire, and ‘You Don’t Nomi’ succeeds in giving new life to the (unjustly) maligned cult classic. In short: never just blindly trust the hard-hitting opinion of film critics (but in nine out of ten cases they do).