Character: Natalie
Director: Steven Antin
Written by: Steven Antin
Produced by:  Donald De Line
Release Date: 24 November 2010 (USA)
Genre:  Drama, Musical, Dance
Running Time: 1h 59min
Country: United States
Language:  English
Budget: $55 million
Box Office: $130.9 million (with DVD sales)
Cast: Christina Aguilera, Eric Dane, Cam Gigandet, Julianne Hough, Alan Cumming, Peter Gallagher, Kristen Bell, Stanley Tucci
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The Burlesque Lounge has its best days behind it. Tess, a retired dancer and owner of the venue, struggles to keep the aging theater alive, facing all kinds of financial and artistic challenges. With the Lounge’s troupe members becoming increasingly distracted by personal problems and a threat coming from a wealthy businessman’s quest to buy the spot from Tess, the good fortune seems to have abandoned the club altogether. Meanwhile, the life of Ali, a small-town girl from Iowa, is about to change dramatically. Hired by Tess as a waitress at the Lounge, Ali escapes a hollow past and quickly falls in love with the art of burlesque. Backed by newfound friends amongst the theater’s crew, she manages to fulfill her dreams of being on stage herself. Things take a dramatic turn though when Ali’s big voice makes her become the main attraction of the revue.

Plot

Ali Rose (Aguilera) moves to Los Angeles after she quits her bar job when her boss refuses to pay her. Once in L.A., she tries and fails at every audition she does until one night, she finds herself unknowingly in a burlesque club when she hears the music on the street. She finds Tess (Cher) and the dancers performing “Welcome to Burlesque” and decides to pursue a career on stage once she meets Jack (Gigandet) at the club’s bar. Jack refers her to Tess for an audition, but she is instantly rejected and ushered out by Sean (Tucci). Instead of leaving, Ali begins serving customers at the club as a waitress, while Jack asks Tess to give Ali a chance.

When Georgia (Hough) becomes pregnant, auditions are held to replace her. Ali begins her audition when everyone leaves, and after performing “Wagon Wheel Watusi”, persuades Tess to allow her to become one of the club’s dancers, much to the annoyance of Nikki (Bell), the lead performer who is always late and caught drinking before numbers. One day Ali has to replace Nikki on stage because Nikki is too drunk to perform. Nikki sabotages the performance by turning off the music that the dancers usually lip sync to, but before the curtain is dropped down, Ali impresses everyone with her amazing singing skills. Tess immediately decides to have Ali become the main star of a whole new show at the club. It becomes increasingly popular and Ali enjoys her newfound stardom while Nikki fumes in the background. Despite the club’s growing success, Tess is still unable to pay the bank the money that she owes.

One night after the club closes, Tess, worried with the club’s economic prospects, sings “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me”. A very jealous Nikki shows up drunk and picks a fight with Tess, calling Ali a “slut with mutant lungs” and feels that Tess has rejected their long-term friendship for Ali. Tess, who has grown frustrated with Nikki, questions her gratitude for the help she has received from her during her many drunken binges. Angered, Nikki quits on the spot (before falsely claiming that she slept with Vince after his and Tess’s honeymoon), and the altercation ends when Tess angrily retaliates by smashing the passenger side window on Nikki’s convertible with a crowbar.

Meanwhile, Ali and Jack become romantically attracted to each other. However, Jack is unable to act on his growing feelings for Ali due to his engagement to his girlfriend, who is away in New York City for work as an actress; Jack is encouraged by Sean to end the engagement as Ali is a better person than his shallow fiance. Marcus begins to become increasingly infatuated with Ali, who begins to spend time with him, making Jack jealous. At Georgia’s wedding, Jack appears to call off his engagement and becomes drunk. That night, Ali and Jack sleep together, but the following morning Jack’s fiancé, Natalie (Agron), unexpectedly returns from her play and finds the two in bed together, angrily insisting that she and Jack never broke up. Jack denies this, and while trying to fix things, he asks Ali to leave. Feeling heartbroken and betrayed, Ali runs to Sean for support, and learns that Sean is gay, due to his having spent the night with Georgia’s wedding DJ the night before. While making coffee, Ali receives a call from Marcus, and Sean prompts her to go with Marcus after his phone call, while Sean and Mark (the DJ) go on a date.

While spending time with Marcus, Ali learns about “air rights”, which refers to the empty space above a building and what can be done with it. Ali breaks things off with Marcus after she sees his plans to build a skyscraper on the property the club is on; Marcus protests this, asking why this suddenly makes him “the bad guy”, to which Ali replies, “It doesn’t, Marcus. It just makes you the wrong guy”. Ali tells Tess about the predicament, and together they inform the owner of the new million-dollar condos across the street; fearing the loss of business that would result from the obstruction of his prospective tenants’ view, he purchases the air rights to the club’s property. The resulting money is enough for Tess to buy out Vince’s share (as they are divorced and he wanted out of the club), pay off the bank, and re-fashion the club to her own vision. She also makes up with Nikki, who tells Tess that she claimed she slept with Vince just to hurt her, and rehires her at the club after Nikki tells her she wants to “come home”.

Ali reunites with Jack after he tells her that it’s over with Natalie for good; Natalie was in denial, having cared more about her job than her relationship with Jack. After she finally earns Nikki’s respect, Ali performs “Show Me How You Burlesque”, written by Jack (who refused to allow Ali to listen or see his music throughout the movie due to it not being “ready”) with all of the dancers on stage, much to the crowds’ delight. (Wikipedia)

Photos

Filming & Box Office

Budget:$55,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend USA: $11,947,744, 28 November 2010, Wide Release
Gross USA: $39,440,655, 6 February 2011
Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $89,519,773, 15 May 2011

Filming Location: Sony Pictures Studios – 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
Filming Period: Started on November 9, 2009 and ended on March 3, 2010.

Trivia & Goofs

Dianna only has one short scene in this film, in which she comes home to find her husband (who she is currently seperated from) in bed with Christina Aguilera’s character Ali. Dianna shot her scene in just one afternoon.

With a budget of $55 million, Burlesque is one of Screen Gems’ most expensive films outside of the Resident Evil franchise.

Robert Pattinson, Kellan Lutz, Taylor Lautner were considered to play Jack, before the role went to fellow Twilight star Cam Gigandet.

Patrick Dempsey, Sam Worthington, Casey Affleck, and Jamie Foxx were considered to play Marcus.

Jessica Biel and Lindsay Lohan were considered for the role of Nikki.

The Golden Globes drew a lot of adverse criticism when they announced their 2010 nominations as two of the year’s most critically derided films – Burlesque and The Tourist (2010) – both were nominated for Best Film Musical or Comedy. A press freebie to Las Vegas to watch Cher perform organized by Screen Gems was generally credited with the film’s erroneous nomination.

This is the second movie with Stanley Tucci where he provides the lead character with new clothing and a makeover which leads to a montage backed by Madonna music. The first movie is The Devil Wears Prada (2006), when Tucci’s character Nigel gives Anne Hathaway’ a makeover, followed by a montage set to “Vogue.”

Most of the stand-ins for the female dancers in the performances of the Burlesque club were actually former members of The Pussycat Dolls, the Las Vegas burlesque-troupe-turned-pop-group (uncredited through)

The DVD and Blu-ray sales exceed one million units and have grossed $20,563,918 in the United States alone. The DVD has sold over 1.4 million units in the United States. Overall, it has grossed over $30,053,366 on video sales (DVD and Blu-ray sales) in United States alone.

Official Trailer