Worst movie ever

I've been asked before what I would choose as the worst movie ever made, and I must confess, it is a harder question to answer than one would think. I feel like I have forgotten about a lot of the really awful movies that I have seen. Usually I settle on either Jack (1996) starring Robin Williams and Jennifer Lopez or Big Daddy (1999) starring Adam Sandler (in fact, at least half of all Adam Sandler movies could easily be called the worst movie ever made).

However, last night as I was flipping channels after putting the kids I was baby-sitting for to bed, I stopped on VH1 which was featuring an edited version of the 1995 movie Showgirls starring Elizabeth Berkely of Saved by the Bell semi-fame. Showgirls gives Jack and Big Daddy a run for their money. The script, plot, and acting are far beyond mediocre: they are just out and out awful. As some reviewers on IMDB point out, it is also just dull. I started drifting off while watching it. It was controversial when it came out because of nudity and perhaps the depravity of the characters, but that must have just been a publicity gimick to distract from its dullness.

If I were a guy, even the promise of modestly dressed to nude women could not keep me awake through Showgirls. Also, for anyone who likes to see independent, smart women portrayed on screen, the movie is a complete mockery, though one should beware of taking creator Joe Eszterhas seriously when he says Showgirls is about women's empowerment. As one reviewer aptly points out on IMDB Showgirl's creator, Joe Eszterhas "must have different ideas about women's empowerment because his idea seems to be to portray women as hookers, strippers, killers and raging lesbian predators (anything outside those four categories and they're fishfood)".

Oddly enough though, some IMDB reviewers really like it. To me it seems like these people have the contrarian impluse to like this movie because it is known for being so bad.

Anyway, I had exactly the same experience as this reviewer:

This could easily have been one of the worst movies that I was ever unable to turn away from. When I finally watched this movie it was edited on VH1. Still it sucked me in like it was some kind of black hole full of very poor acting and the most predictable storyline the history of film.

At least I can now name with more ease the worst movie ever.