Christina Aguilera is following in J-Lo’s footsteps.

If there’s one thing America loves, it’s a good underdog story. If there are two things America loves, it’s ogling scantily-clad sexy ladies. Put the two together, and what have we got? Burlesque. In the grand tradition of singers who decide to make the leap into acting, Christina Aguilera is about to follow in the footsteps of such good company as Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez. Comprised of one part glitzy Los Angeles glamour, one part sexy dance flick, and who knows how much lipstick and hairspray, Burlesque will be Aguilera’s foray into the much loved song-and-dance film genre.

Let me ply you with some facts and figures straight out the gate. Steve Antin wrote and directed this. Now, Antin comes from a big entertainment family: his sister Robin started, or rather invented, The Pussycat Dolls, and he has been involved with directing a few of their music videos. This is Cher’s first film role in 11 years (well, seven if you count her appearance in Stuck On You). Burlesque is Christina Aguilera’s first acting role, so maybe we’re all about to be surprised that she hasn’t gone the Jennifer Lopez route earlier. Aguilera has an excellent voice, whether you like her music or not, and the film is banking on her ability to make a glorified music video into something with a plot.

A careful dissection of the trailer proves fruitless. I even took notes. OK, that’s a lie. I just thought it seemed a lot like the plot of Showgirls. Young, beautiful girl shows up in Los Angeles with a head full of dreams and becomes captivated by the culture of burlesque. After we see Aguilera hop on a bus from small town Nowheresville, she makes her way to L.A. and Cher intones, “When you are putting on your make-up, it’s like you’re an artist, but instead of painting a canvas, you’re painting your face.” Truer words, Cher, truer words. What really boggles the mind is that this was probably the best quote they could scrounge. Anyway, Aguilera meets some kooky characters, played by Alan Cumming, Peter Gallagher, Kristen Bell, and Julianne Hough (Hough being the most experienced dancer of the cast, and Bell being … in the movie). However, no one pays her any attention until she belts her heart out at an audition and she gets to sing and dance. So now there’s a rivalry between the old and the new. I suspect there will be some problems, and then there will be resolution.

Actually, that is basically the plot of Showgirls, but hopefully with less screaming and pushing people down staircases. I can only imagine what the pitch meeting was like: “Chicago but modern, and Christina Aguilera will be in it! Burlesque has got it all: passion, dancing, singing — it’s gonna be great.” Throw a little bit of the failed musical 9 in there, and you just built yourself a movie from the cast-off bits of every other movie. This is why we can’t have nice things.

You know what, maybe Burlesque will be better than I’m allowing. I’ve now watched the trailer about eight times and it’s had the intended effect. I kind of want to actually watch the movie, which comes out around Thanksgiving. The weird thing is, I don’t like dance movies. I fast-forward through all singing in musicals, or anything like that. Netflix informs me that I enjoy “cerebral dramas from the 1970s that feature a strong female lead.” What a riot. So maybe it won’t just be dance fiends, but the fact remains that people who really like Step Up, Dancing with the Stars, and glitzy musicals will like this movie, because it looks like it’s going to end up being better than Showgirls, but not as good as Chicago.

Source: Film

On Cher Performance

@Ivanartamonov Her performances were good. The 1st is towards the beginning & she’s amazing in it. The other was a lil too tranny 4 me. lol

@nurick25 Oh, and she only sang twice.

@nurick25 Cher’s botox is insane. Regardless of her emotion she always wears the same expression. She still gives 1 helluva performance tho.

On Movie

@KirshKardashian Yes indeed. It’s gonna make a grip in the box office.
Burlesque was bomb.com! From the music to Aguilera’s better than expected acting to Cher’s overly botoxed face. lol I loved every minute.

The Switch was a cute movie. I liked it. Saw previews for Burlesque, it looks great!! As well as You Again, both with Kristen Bell.

Via Mialterego Twitter

15. BURLESQUE

Starring Cher, Christina Aguilera, Kristen Bell, Stanley Tucci, Alan Cumming
Directed by Steven Antin
Cher plays Tess, a club owner coping with volatile leading lady Nikki (Kristen Bell) while mentoring newcomer Ali (Christina Aguilera, in her film debut) in this sequin-studded musical. (11/24)

Word on the street is that Christina Aguilera can act. That means she’s ready to leap frog over Mariah Carey (for the lackluster Glitter) and Britney Spears (for the forgettable Crossroads) in a bid to hit the heights not reached since Barbara Streisand gave the world (the remake of) A Star is Born! Given the loopy premise–that this girl’s DREAM is to dirty dance at a failing LA nightclub–I’d be ready to dismiss Burlesque in a hot minute except that Aguilera has shown the good sense to work with heavyweights Cher and, get ready, Stanley Tucci. What the? Some are dismissing the effort as a soon-to-be camp classic, and the trailer doesn’t exactly make me question that notion.

In it we learn that small-town girl Ali (played by Aguilera) is hired by Tess (Cher), whose grumpy exterior must surely mask a heart of gold. Oy. Ali almost blows her chance onstage, then she starts sing. Even the gay bartender stops in his tracks. I can’t wait to hear this and the other three songs Aguilera wrote for the movie, though it’s Cher’s song that provides the theme with “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me.”
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The script writer for “Moonstruck” John Patrick Shanley added “a few tweaks” according to EW, because Cher was less than enthused by the original script. “You don’t want to do [a movie] unless you read a script and go, ‘I love this’. In the beginning I just didn’t see potential in it for me.” But she was won over by Screen Gems president Clint Culpepper and Stevin Antin and her pal David Geffen.

About the ballad by Diana Warren: “I have a fight with [Nikki] where I finally say, “Your problems are nothing compared to mine, and I’m tired of babysitting you. Then I down a couple of drinks and I’m walking. It could only happen in a musical where you just start to sing out the storyline. But Diane did a great job. It’s one of those gigantic power ballads.”

Q: “As someone who has successfully crossed over from music to movies, did you offer Christina Aguilera any advice?”
Le Cher: “We would talk about how you have to find some part of it that’s real for you even if you hadn’t had that experience. Acting is hard to explain because it always sounds pompous. When we were in the scene, I knew how to help her.”

So we have a third revision, and we know Cher was Christina’s de facto acting coach, and we get Cher walking along singing a power ballad.

Thanks to XtinasMinx for the info!

According to “Burlesque” director, Steven Antin, he has confirmed on his twitter, that more music videos, Cher clips and more to come. While he has also confirmed Christina doing voice overs today.

I’ve added screen captures from Christina Aguilera’s new movie preview clip where Christina sangs, “Something’s Got A Hold On Me” for ‘Burlesque’ movie. She sounded amazing as usual!