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Saturday, February 16, 2013

??!! / Conflict of Interest / Film The Time Has Come to Watch Showgirls 2: Penny's from Heaven

Posted by David Schmader on Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 2:54 PM

Screen_shot_2013-02-16_at_2.05.27_PM.jpg

Showgirls 2: Penny's from Heaven—the would-be sequel to Paul Verhoeven's legendary Showgirls, written and directed by Rena Riffel, who also stars, produces, and edits—was released straight to DVD on December 28, 2011. As a diehard Showgirls fan, I figured I'd watch it someday. Then a year passed. What was it about Showgirls 2: Penny's from Heaven that made it so easy to avoid watching?* My two best reasons:

1. The appeal of "a sequel to Showgirls" is not the continuation of any character's story arc but the dream of another film with the perfect balance of hubris, talent, surrealism, and hilarious failure that makes the original Showgirls one of the great cinematic experiences of the 20th century. However, lightning rarely strikes the same place twice, and if there ever is "another Showgirls," it's unlikely to revolve around scantily clad women, and much more likely to involve the race for a vaccine or something.

2. It's going to be awful.

But exactly how awful will it be? And what flavor of awful? These are the questions we will seek to answer on Thursday March 7, when I'll be hosting a screening of (and providing intermittent commentary throughout) Showgirls 2: Penny's from Heaven at Central Cinema.

In advance of this screening, I've been watching the film. It is 143 minutes long, features numerous castmembers from the original Showgirls, and is astoundingly bad. "How bad do you want it?" teases the Showgirls 2 poster. This is not an event for Showgirls novices. If you haven't seen the original Showgirls at least ten times, you'll be so baffled and bored by Showgirls 2 you'll weep. But for those ready to take the 143-minute plunge, it's going to be epic, perhaps cleansing, maybe even cathartic. Full info here.

(Special assignment for forthcoming viewers of Showgirls 2: Watch/re-watch David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. Not just the Rena Riffel part, the whole thing.)

*-This is perhaps my favorite sentence I've ever written.

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Comments (14) RSS

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As long as there are some Emmett Till jokes, it should be a blast.

Posted by seatackled on February 16, 2013 at 3:02 PM

I could never watch a movie with an apostrophe error in the title.

Posted by povertylaw on February 16, 2013 at 5:13 PM

@2

I don't think it's an apostrophe error, though; it seems like it, but I imagine the main character's name must be Penny. I'd say it's a poorly-constructed pun.

Posted by seatackled on February 16, 2013 at 5:42 PM

It actually sounds like the name of a porn flick about a naive, sexy character named Penny.

Posted by floater on February 16, 2013 at 6:19 PM

It's probably as good as Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights, but not nearly as good as Breakin' 2: Electric Bogaloo

Posted by Urgutha Forka on February 16, 2013 at 8:33 PM

@5 MANNEQUIN 2: ON THE MOVE

Posted by kittenalarm on February 16, 2013 at 10:21 PM

@6,
Speed 2: Cruise Control

Posted by Urgutha Forka on February 16, 2013 at 10:40 PM

@7 Exorcist 2: The Heretic

Posted by TheMisanthrope on February 16, 2013 at 10:45 PM

@8,
Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money

Posted by Urgutha Forka on February 16, 2013 at 10:57 PM

Mr. Schmader--are you ever going to do your original commentated Show Girls in town again? I've heard so much about it, and have never had the pleasure. Or, is it available online or something?
Thanks...

Posted by crone on February 17, 2013 at 2:07 AM

Spaceballs 3: The Search for Spaceballs 2

Posted by lololololol on February 17, 2013 at 10:06 AM