Free With Ads - Showgirls

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

It's the first week of the MaxFunDrive 2025 and to celebrate we are giving you a cult classic, the inimitable erotic 90s sexy dance movie Showgirls, starring Elizabeth Berkeley.Tune in next week when our movie will be The Apartment, with special guests The Flop House-----We are doing a livestream AMA on the MaxFun Youtube channel tonight at 8pm PST! Come watch! MaxFunDrive ends on March 28, 2025! Support our show now and get access to bonus content by becoming a member at maximumfun.org/join.

Hey everyone, Super Producer Matt Lieb here. Before we get started with today's episode of Free With Ads, where we're gonna be talking about the amazing movie Showgirls, I wanted to say it's the first week of the Max Fund Drive. The Max Fund Drive is a two week long celebration slash fundraiser of Maximum Fun, the very wonderful worker owned co-op slash podcast network

that hosts this very podcast. And we have two wonderful fun things planned. We're gonna be doing two live streams during the fun drive. The first one is today, that's Tuesday, March 18th, at 8 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. Jordan Morris, Emily Fleming, and I are going to be going live for one hour on the Maximum Fun YouTube channel and we're gonna be doing an AMA.

And then the week after that, Tuesday March 25th at 8 p.m., we're gonna be doing a live movie watch along riff tracks type thing where we all play the same movie at the same time and then you watch me Jordan and Emily talk about it. It's gonna be a lot of fun. So if you are not subscribed to Maximum Fun's type thing where we all play the same movie at the same time and then you watch me, Jordan and Emily talk about it. It's gonna be a lot of fun. So if you are not subscribed to Maximum Fun's YouTube channel, do it now, youtube.com slash at Max Fun HQ.

That's youtube.com slash at Max Fun HQ. Subscribe now and we will see you at 8 p.m. Pacific Standard Time tonight for the AMA. This is Free With Ads, the podcast that asks the question, why pay four bucks to rent A Star Is Born when you can go online for free and watch another story about a fresh-faced ingenue trying to make it in showbiz that's objectively better because she eats dog food and shows her boobs. I'm Jordan Morris.

And I'm Emily Fleming. Today's movie is Showgirls. It's what you little pigs have all been waiting for. It's the 1995 bomb that might actually be a brilliant satire in a groundbreaking queer love story. I don't know unless it isn't. With as always a super producer Matt Hitness with those nasty drops. I'm so excited!

I'm so excited! I'm so scared! I am not the first one to say this, but I think there is a showgirls headcanon where the movie is what happens to Jessie after she goes on her pep pill rampage in Saved by the Bell. Honestly, like, ugh. I love her as a tall girl.

Jessie Spano was the girl to me. And she did not disappoint with tall girlness. Ness. Yes, tall girlness in Showgirls. This is a very special episode. We are doing the movie that you have requested more than any other, because it's a very special time of year.

It's the Max Fun Drive. Hooray. It's the time of year where Max Fun comes to you, encourages you to join the network and keep these shows coming. We're going to talk about it later in the episode. All the cool bonus stuff you can get, all the gifts, all the good feels. So stay tuned for that. But for now, if you want to see more about the Max Fun Drive, go to maximumfun.org slash join and we're gonna do it we're gonna get to show girls but first we're gonna talk about something else we saw for free on the internet this week this is related to last week's episode on Pride and

Prejudice a movie that we all loved this is a blue sky post that podcaster Alex Jaffe tagged me in thanks a lot lot Alex, you're a great guy. This is a blue sky post from DJ Acid Reflux. It reads, much as I like Pride and Prejudice, I find it impossible to deny that this is the greatest review of all time. And this is a one star Amazon review of Pride and Prejudice that reads, just a bunch of people going to each other's houses. It's true. I mean, it kinda is. That's the movie.

I just, let's, could we go back, can we go back to that time where if like, anyone shows up at your house and they have up a hood and they're wet with rain, they just get to come in. Yeah, what happened? When America was great. Can I tell you guys a fun story real quick? Oh please.

So it's almost St. Patrick's Day, or maybe by the time this comes out, it is. Yes, I think by the time this comes out, it will have been St. Patrick's Day, Emily will have been missing for three days. Yeah, motherfuckers. So if you know where Emily went, please call the authorities.

So, as some of you know, I went to Catholic school. I'm not Catholic. My mom worked at the Catholic school, and so I got to go. But everybody loved my mom, because my mom is pretty amazing and charming. But there was this guy named Johnny O'Shea, and he would just show up at our house all the time.

And he's one of those guys that just- Covered in rain? Never shut up. He was like an old man with big ears, and he was Catholic, and he just loved our family, and he would just show- Was this your mom's Mr. Darcy?

No, no. My dad is, my dad is. I'm sure all men have a little bit of Mr. Darcy of disinterest or whatever that makes women wet. I oftentimes can't read social situations. Yeah, look at you Jordan, you're a Mr. Darcy. Yeah, I'm a real Mr. Darcy. I like weird at a party Honestly, I think out of the two you Jordan is the mr. Darcy

Matt is the guy that he you are Mr. Mr. Bipple or whatever. No, no, you're a little mr. Tumnus from Chronicles of Narnia. Yeah Don't make me horny. What? Anyway, Mr. Tumnus is hot. Anyway, no, you're more of a, like, whatever, her dad. Aw, that's sweet. Yeah, you're that guy.

But Johnny O'Shea would show up unannounced just at the house, and I would just be hiding because the amount of small talk I would have to do with this guy, people who show up at your house. Nightmare. What are we talking about? We're talking about weather, we're talking about local sports, what was the small talk?

I don't even know, I think I blacked out most of the time. It was like, what are you doing at school? I was like, nothing good, because my grades were always bad. That's the worst grown up question to a kid, what are you doing in school? Not good, nothing good, everything is bad. I hate it, I don't enjoy it.

I just say drugs, I'm on drugs. Well, for me it was just like, anytime anyone asks how are you doing in school, I have never once said good, ever, ever. That was my whole life. So glad I'm not a child anymore. Anyway, Johnny O'Shea, nightmare, nice man. But like the idea of people just coming to your house

all the time, horrible, horrible nightmare. Anyway, sorry. Were you the one who wrote the one star review? Yes, it was I. What was the guy's name? What was his profile? This is like screen grabbed by a guy named DJ Acid Reflux. So I think he saw it on the-

That's me. Whoa. Okay, before we get into show girls, I wanna give you a quick trigger warning. There is representation of sexual assault in this movie. It is something I don't think needs to be in this movie personally. And if you want to avoid the clip in the moment in the movie, which honestly I suggest because I don't, I don't even want to watch it. It's at 1 hour 50 minutes 29 seconds to 1 hour 51 minutes 56 seconds. If you would also like to avoid this episode due to the subject matter, there are so many other episodes

that we have that I think you'll enjoy and please go listen to them, but just wanted to let you know. And with that being said, we're going to play a little bit of music to allow you to pick another episode if you so choose. We're back. It's Free With Ads. We're talking about Showgirls. Is it terrible? Is it brilliant? We will decide today on this podcast.

No we won't. It'll probably remain a mystery forever. Before we start, have y'all seen this? Emily, I know you have. You write hard for this movie. I do. When was the first time you saw it? I didn't see it till after college,

because I don't know. It was always, people always told me that this was just a bad movie. Right. No one ever explained to me why it was bad, but I think the context was that it was porn. Everybody told me it was just basically porn. Right. Which I was this an NC17 movie? Yes it was. It was yeah and I think people say that it killed the NC17 rating. I think that like really yeah I

think that's that's kind of the like the theory as to why we don't have more NC17 movies is like like Showgirls was such a huge joke and a huge bomb that they just didn't want to do this anymore. Well, maybe that's true, but the rating system is created by a panel of 17 unknown people who are parents who no one can know. They're anonymous. Yeah, yeah. The rating system is pretty wack. It's bizarre. So, but anything, like at this point in the game, anything getting into theaters is a miracle. Oh, totally.

Let alone it being NC-17. I know, right? But like, that's pretty fascinating to me. I'm trying to think of any other movies that were NC-17 around that time period. Orgasmo. Oh yeah, the classic Orgasmo. Trey Parker, Matt Stone movie. That was NC-17. Yeah, yeah, because I mean, like we're saying,

the MPAA is a weird black box, totally nebulous. Unless you're a big studio, they will not tell you what you need to cut out. If anything, I'd say that's what killed it, because it wasn't even black box totally nebulous so yeah unless you're a big studio they will not tell you anything i'd say that's what killed it because it wasn't even like hot like it's just like it was just hilarious yeah exactly by the way matt has what laryngitis laryngitis i just want to point out yes thank you if you're wondering why you're not doing your, full sex voice for our sexy episode. I think this is how I sound. No, I'm sorry, I just saw Showgirls and so now I'm this guy.

I sound like I smoke a pack of cigarettes every five minutes because I saw Showgirls. I watched it in slow motion so I could see the jiggle jangle. The jiggle jangle, not the jingle. But my favorite thing is, Matt has had quite a few ailments. He's a dad. I'm always sick because I'm a dad. Yeah, exactly, but you've had pink eye up on this podcast.

No one could see it, but we can. Yeah, but now you can hear my pink eye. Yeah, now all of you can suffer through whatever's going on instead of just us. Anyway, so yeah, so that was NC-17. I can't remember anything else that was NC-17. Yeah, this one was totally the most famous. Honestly, pretty like sucking on a nipple.

I was like shocked by a nipple suck. Yeah, sure. You don't often see that in a movie featuring a big star like Elizabeth Berkley. Also an inverted nipple, you know what? Yeah, shout out to my sisters. That's right, that's right. You know, a lot of great nipple representation

in this film. That's right. Listen, she's got the same nipples. Are other kinds of representation good? No. No. But nipples. No, they. No. But nipples. No, they are not.

But nipples that have a slit instead of a point, that's my girls, you know? Beautiful. Love them all. We love to see boobs on screen. Oh, we love it. There I am. For real.

Well, my boobs anyway. Yeah, look at our boobs. Matt, show girls? No, I had not seen the movie. So I'm just going to talk like this for the rest of the part. You sound like you make porn in the 70s. That's kind of what I'm going for. That's what I'm going for.

I had not seen this movie before. I'd only heard about it. And so for years, I've just seen clips. And it kind of reminds me of watching a clip of The Room with Tommy Wiseau. Oh, okay. So I kind of just thought we were in for one of those classic, so bad it's good movies,

and I have to say, pleasantly surprised. It is something else. It is its own thing. Also there was a lot of full frontal, which, not male nudity, but full frontal female nudity, which I don't think I've seen such tasteful, like full frontal female nudity in a long time. Yeah, you never see the slit. You never see the slit in the pussy,

but you see like a suggestion of pubic hair, but that's it. Yeah, but that's it. Yeah, but it was kind of beautiful. Also, Gina Gershon. Oh my God. Oh yeah, oh yeah. Which is our girl.

Just so you know, there's a few people that are legendary to Free With Ads, and Gina Gershon is one of them. We are a big fucking team. Gina. Team Gina. Show. What's that call her?

Gina, I'm sorry. Stop it. Stop. We can't see the Gina in the movie, Matt. That's the point. You don't see the Gina. But also with that voice, do not speak her name. Don't.

Gina. Gina Gershon. No, no. Sorry. Matt, read us a couple Bible verses. Stop it, no. China Gershon. No, no. Sorry. Matt, read us a couple Bible verses. Stop it, no! In your racing track guy voice. I hate it, I hate it.

In the beginning there was nothing. And then God said, let there be China. Let there be China Gershon. What you do to the least of my brothers, is that what you do to these nuts? Anyway, Showgirls, we watched it. So it opens on a truck stop. We got hitchhiking Nomi Malone. She gets picked up by a real Elvis looking guy.

My God, the chin on this man. More Johnny Bravo than Johnny. Oh yeah, kind of a Johnny Bravo type guy. My God, the chin on this man. More Johnny Bravo than Johnny. Oh yeah, kind of a Johnny Bravo type guy. The insane chin, it looks like an old El Paso taco shell. Ha! So he picks her up, he says,

you can sit a little closer if you want to, and she pulls a knife on him immediately and keeps this energy for the rest of the movie. Dude. She's not always pulling a knife on him immediately and keeps this energy for the rest of the movie. She's not always pulling a knife on someone, but her energy is, I'm pulling a knife on you. She is just fucking cranked up. Even when she's eating a burger, she's pulling a knife on that burger, baby.

Exactly, she's dipping fries like she's shanking them in prison. Yes, she, Nomi is angry all all the time and maybe for good reason So she she's she's going to Vegas. She's gonna be a dancer She like they like drive to Vegas walk with her holding him at knife point And then they get you a casino. She he says like oh, I'm gonna get my uncle to give you a job So he she's like playing slots. She starts winning immediately and kind of a scuzzy guy, a scuzzy Matt voice type guy.

Hey, don't worry. I'm gonna be right back. I just gotta go talk to my cousin who works at the Copacabana or whatever the fuck. And this is like the first character to call her a prostitute. Everyone in this movie calls her a prostitute all the time. And like at this point in the movie,

she is not dressed provocatively. She is wearing- Are you kidding? But not like to the point where you would go like, there's a prostitute. Yeah. No, but I mean it is provocative, but definitely not a prostitute.

It's sexy, yeah, it's so funny that- It's Vegas, everybody should dress like a slut like I I dress When I go to Vegas totally agree and he says he's trying to like, you know Get her to to you know, take money for sex and he's like it won't take any longer than 15 minutes Yeah, that's a long amount of time to fuck Like how he has a self-own in his pick-up line. Yeah. I don't think people realize how long.

I come so quickly. With me, if I even see a boob, I'm already done. Please. I'm gonna be honest, longer than 20 minutes is too long. Yeah, totally agree. It's too long. Sure. Ah, ah, ah.

I hope it lasts as long as an episode of The Simpsons. We were. What are we doing? Ah, ah, ah. Yeah, completely free. What are we doing? I can't believe I'm saying this, but like. No, you're right.

That's true. Like if you want people to be quick, if you're a prostitute or a sex worker, and you wanna one time and you're done, like five minutes is too long, in my opinion. 15, get outta here. We're learning a lot on this episode. Sorry, people gotta, bitches gotta sleep.

Sure, bitches gotta get up early. Bitches gotta take the recycling out to the curb. Now, bitches gotta look at their phone. I'm trying to scroll. Can you hurry this up? I'm trying to doom scroll. Hurry up and finish having sex. Bitches gotta look at their Reddit comments

to make sure people still like them. Bitches are busy. Bitches are really busy. Bitches are busy, bitches are really busy. Bitches be busy, wrap it up. So this dude, Elvis Chin guy, he drove off with her suitcase in the car and she freaks the fuck out. I guess she's already freaked the fuck out to say,

she's at the number which she is constantly at, which is 11, she starts hitting the car next to where the guy drove off. This car belongs to Molly. This is like her best friend throughout the movie, but they start out by fighting. Nomi throws up and she runs into the middle of the street. What was that? This sequence of events is so insane and funny.

It like sets the tone for the movie. It's like yeah, people are just gonna be fighting and throwing up constantly. And becoming friends. And almost fucking. And becoming friends! And looking at each other longingly like they're gonna kiss.

So Molly, despite being hit and thrown up near, decides she's gonna cradle this woman's head in her bosom, look at her like they're gonna kiss, and like take care of her. So she meets Molly, who's like her beloved best friend. It's kind of like a thing in this movie is that know me, acts insane, and then someone is like let me take care of you.

I mean, yeah, it's pretty bad, that's pretty bad. And I think that like, people talk about this movie, I think Alonzo Giraldi mentioned this when he was on the show, is that like people talk about this movie I think Alonzo Duralde mentioned this when he was on the show is that like people see this movie now is kind of this like fucked up love story between Elizabeth Berkeley and Gina Gershon. I think this is the love story Nomi and Molly they have a really like cute beautiful relationship, but other than it being written weird Like they have a really like nice chemistry together It would be nice if Molly had a characteristic other than so's good and is no me's friend but yes

I think that they these two do like have chemistry and have like a really sweet relationship it's true this movie is kind of written as if it were a stage play in some parts of it it almost feels like it's meant to be a musical oh yeah it kind of does want to be a musical doesn't it the the writing and the campy acting I'll be honest the dance instructor character doesn't need to be there right it exists just for a sexy dance number, which only makes sense in a musical. Well, no, I think that that character exists to claim that she's a good dancer. I think that's what that is.

But no, I do think that this movie, which when I first watched it, I did not see as very gay. Sure. Yeah. And like, how intentional is that remains to be seen? But yeah, I mean, it is so honestly, like, I the minute that I watched that scene that we're talking about, where she's like, I lost everything, my suitcase is gone, whatever. And she's like I lost everything my suitcase is gone whatever and she's banging on this car and this beautiful woman grabs her and goes that's my car

and they look at each other no they look at each other in the eye and there is this like magnetic connection where Elizabeth Berkeley just glides her lips against the side of this woman's face and then cries in her shoulder I was like which is crazy because she just vomited she just puked so Elizabeth Berkeley's breath stinks during that. OK, so the last episode we talked about pride bridges, how Judy Dench's breath would like stink under a sure a blanket. But this shit crazy. But also like, I don't know. I don't think Elizabeth Berkeley's breath is ever stank.

But it could be. It could be. She could. Yeah, she could have fragrant, beautiful herbal vomit. I would like to like state I am a straight woman But this was so like beautiful and romantic and sexy that I was like god damn Marry this woman. Yeah, sure. I know they do they do have a nice They do have a nice chemistry for sure. The hottest shit that happens in this movie is between women.

It's so sexy and beautiful. But yes, there is this very sexual moment of them connecting where I'm like, this feels out of place. So Molly takes her to the Pepper Mill, which is an actual place in Vegas. Ever been to the Pepper Mill, Emily? I don't think so, it still exists. I would call the aesthetic of the Pepper Mill, which is an actual place in Vegas. Ever been to the Pepper Mill, Emily? I don't think so, it still exists. I would call the aesthetic of the Pepper Mill Emily core.

It is definitely like, if someone told me you designed it, I would not be surprised. It's this like crazy, like campy diner that also has a bar that serves tiki drinks and is like always packed. Everybody's always hung over. It's one of the coolest places in Vegas. If you're there, the Peppermill go to it.

Oh, thank you, Jordan. That's so nice of you to say that. I will definitely go there next time I go. And they have, in this movie, they have the hugest cups. They bring out these giant cups and fries, and so they drink out of these enormous cups. To be fair, it does say the big cup on it So at least they know it's not like the world's weirdest prop

and Then Elizabeth Berkeley just fucking attacks a plate of fries just stabs them in the ketchup like yeah So weird like like she's twisting the knife in Caesar's back. She's like To know me? Say the fries. Then she's stabbing them. To be fair, this is how she fucks. Yeah, true.

She eats like she fucks. Very weird and aggressive. Very weird. I honestly, yes, this is insane, but I also love it. I love it because it just adds this unhinged characterization. Because what we've gleaned from this character is that she's been running from something. This is not just some regular enchanu

that is coming to Vegas. This is somebody who has a knife. Has a past. Has a past, which I'm gonna be real, I'm a little bummed about the reveal of her past. I would have loved it if they never revealed it. Agreed, I agree with you 100%, yeah. There was like a thing at the beginning

where she's in the car with the douche bag where she goes, my mom's Italian. And he goes, okay. And I was like, ooh, what if she's like a mob. Yeah. A girlfriend who's like, you know, I gotta get out of town. And the mob is after her. And like, what a more interesting story

that would have been for a mob girl to be here, like, oh, don't fuck with me, like that kind of thing, instead of what we got. I just think that that would have been more interesting. However, here we go. We cut to six weeks later, She's staying in Molly's trailer. The trailer looks so much fun, very cute. I imagine this is a bedroom that Emily enjoyed.

I would guess. Yes, this is honestly my favorite bedroom. I love it. It's also a kitchen, it's also a bathroom. You got everything. Well, it's my apartment. One beautiful, one beautiful room. It's my apartment. It's also a kitchen, it's also a bathroom, you got everything. It's one beautiful room. It's my apartment. It's your apartment.

Pretty much. But the idea of being in Vegas and pursuing this life as a dancer with someone who is a costume designer, like you're both artists and you're both sharing this and they're probably in their 20s too I'm like almost 40 not as cute to be that now. It's still cute. Everybody's cute. We're all cute. Matt's cute when he's down at the racetrack eating cigarette butts off the ground. I'm stabbing these fries sexually. Stop.

The fries are my dick. The idea of being, cause I've lived in an apartment with five people in New York, but this idea of being two girls in New York, a show girl and a costume designer in this cute spot, you know, in Vegas together and you like each other and you're having fun and you're rooting for each other. Adorable. Adorable.

I love it. They have this very strange, very funny interaction about chips. Oh, yes. She can pick those up with her nails that she just painted. Where Molly's like, I bet you're just going to sit at home just painted. Where Molly's like, I bet you're just gonna sit at home eating chips. And she's like, I didn't eat the chips, you ate them. It's like they write the weirdest dialogue for them,

but it's so fun to watch because they're great and their chemistry is great. Yeah, they're having fun. But this little fight about the chips is just like, no one knew what to write for the scene where the women need to be having fun and liking each other. Yeah, it was clearly written by a man, but the performances by these actresses were like,

we'll make it work. And they go for it, and they totally go for it, and yeah, they're both great. So Molly is a, coincidentally, she's a seamstress at one of the biggest shows in Vegas, Goddess, starring Crystal Connors, played by Gina Gershon. A short brunette woman. And yeah, she, the show is spectacular.

Everyone is going crazy for this short brunette, it's wild to me. And she emerges from a volcano in the middle of the show. I really like how the show goddess, they reveal scenes to us periodically throughout the movie and each one is crazier than the last and at the end there's this sense of what's this show? And of course everyone loves it because it's awesome, but like who conceived of this thing that has volcanoes

and monkeys and motorcycles? Wild. Someone should just recreate the show in Vegas. Were the monkeys for that show or were they for another show? And they just had to have a car. Unclear. There are monkeys backstage. Yeah. But I guess I check off the monkeys.

You see him in the first act. He's got to rip off your face and genitals. I knew it. I knew you were gonna say that, Jordan. Sure. Because as soon as I saw the monkeys, I went, here we go, ripping off face and genitals. I knew that this was gonna happen.

Listen, I got a bag of tricks. But it was so weird. I have eight things that I say. To be honest though, I was more chill with the monkeys being back there than when the two children were back there. And then I was like, ew, get the monkeys back here. Rip those kids' faces off. So there's a big press conference for four goddesses.

Gina Gershon's boyfriend Kyle McLaughlin brings her flowers hey I think I know how hunk watch is gonna gonna go can I say worst hat yeah sure you may please feel free okay it may not even be a hat it's just his hair Kyle McLaughlin's hair is the worst hat the hat. That side part crazy butt cut that he's got going on, it's so thick. I don't even see where the part gets to the skin. Is that a toupee? Is that not real hair?

I don't know. I don't know enough about this actor. Is he a bald guy? Oh no, he's got a fabulous head of hair. Oh yeah, I think Kamaglaland to this day has has beautiful hair It looks like a Lego piece that got dropped on a perfectly handsome good actor's head So yeah, so so Nomi obviously wants to be in this show more than anything She goes back to meet she goes back to meet Gina Gershon, who's just hanging around Topless.

I like how she's just getting introduced to new people while she's Topless. I love it. Nomi and Gina Gershon get into a big fight. It turns out Nomi is working at Cheetahs. Which we have one in Los Angeles. Oh yeah, there's a Cheetahs in Los Angeles. I Googled Cheetahs Las Vegas.

The club is still there. It is now called the library so if you're doing your showgirls tour of Vegas the library is where it is it's still a strip club I you know I think it is I don't think it's a public although that'd be the wildest most Vegas shit in history so she's dancing at this at the strip club. Gina Krishnan and Kyle McLaughlin come in and and ask her for a lap dance. She charges 500 bucks and they go they go into the back room and wait wait wait I think a very important distinction is that Gina Krishnan's character is beginning her toying with her.

Right, yes. And this lap dance is her idea. Yeah, it's a mind game. This is a mind game. Kyle McLaughlin is also Gina Krishnan's toy, that's part of it. He's the artistic director, but fuck off. He's, she's who wants her to dance on the man she's with.

And this begins the mind games of her. And our main character. Yeah, that lasts the whole movie. Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, it's both. It's both Kyle McLaughlin and her, but I love the psychological mind games of the women in this movie.

So Nomi gives him this lap dance. She kind of bends over backwards and kind of like flails around. And you see this position later in the movie in the famous pool sex scene. And wouldn't you know it, Kyle McLaughlin, he comes in his pants. That's right. And so yeah, that's kind of like, you know, the start of their flirtation, Nomi and Kyle McLaughlin. But also Gina Gresham, because she's turned on.

Like, she's watching them. With her mouth open. With her mouth open, and she's grinding on a chair, watching them. Like in my opinion, this is a like Gina Gershon is a sexual psychopath. Like I, I love her so much. Like, I really wish that there was more to this movie. I want to know more about Gina Gershon's character

because this seems like a woman who is the biggest femme fatale of all time. And the crazy thing is this movie is about another femme fatale and it's like two femme fatales at the same time. Ugh, I just wish this movie had ended in a different way than it did. So Nomi gets an audition to be in Goddess. There's a funny thing with Molly kind of

along the line of the chip scene where she's like I'll buy you a burrito or maybe fajitas burrito. They say fajitas like it's a joke. Anyway very weird. Again they're selling this very, very weird dialogue. So she has this audition for Tony Moss, the asshole guy in charge of goddess who says, I don't care if you live or die. That's how he starts the audition. He's also the dad of Dharma from Dharma and Greg.

Oh, fun. Is he a total asshole in that who makes people put ice on their nipples? Well, no. That would be crazy if that's what Dharma and Greg was about. I mean, he's just a white guy with a ponytail, which, check, check, I guess. So he's got range is what you're saying.

He's got range. So she gets the job, she quits the strip club. We see her kind of go back and do all of her paperwork to start the show, and we see a bunch of Christmas decorations. Guys, Showgirls is a Christmas movie. Tired, Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Wired, Showgirls is a Christmas movie.

New Christmas tradition, piss off your family, put on Showgirls when you're home for Christmas. And so we get the monkey scene. There's a bunch of monkeys back there. Are they so fucking great? Do you think they just like had some and they were like, Let's put it in there. Yeah, write them in the movie.

It's a ton of fun. One of the monkeys puts on makeup. We love this. Ah, Elizabeth Berk Berkeley betrays how low class she is by pronouncing Versace, Versace. Pretty funny joke, they do it like 10 times in the movie. And it's like, all right, we do that. They really do it too many times.

Yeah, that's like when a little kid tells a joke and gets a laugh, he just keeps doing it and keeps doing it. That's them in Versace, Versace, Versace. All right, we get it. But it does have, it does have narrative usefulness because it is how you find out that Kyle McLaughlin's character is a good dude.

Because he's the only one who corrects her pronunciation. Well, he's not a good dude. He's able to manipulate her. Right, at this point in the movie, you're supposed to think he's a good dude because he's the only one who corrected her. Well, the other thing is- Lovingly, lovingly.

Well, lovingly, but you also notice how he's able to do good guy shit to manipulate her. Yeah, yeah, he's also manipulative. Well, I think that his character is well written. I really do like the way that they wrote his character because he will portray that he's being a good guy to be like, oh, I'll make sure that the bad guy gets a talking to or gets fired,

and then he'll call that guy and goes, ha ha ha, I'm fucking kidding. Like, that is true. Like there are people who will like, sometimes I don't like the way that movies portray bad dudes because it makes it so fucking over the top. That's not how men act.

Like where it's not like useful or believable, but I found his character like useful or believable, but I found his character to be very believable. Like I liked watching how slimy and horrible men are in this industry where I felt like I learned something personally, there were moments like that and his character was one of them, but yeah. So Gina Gresham has kind of roped her into this web. She's in the chorus of Goddess and they go out to Spago. Everyone has encouraged Elizabeth Berkeley to only eat brown rice and vegetable and so I think you've seen

this movie you know what clip we're about to play but I think it's worth playing because it is it is it is Iconic this is this is our generation's Luke I am your father This is what her and Gina Gershon talk about while they're at lunch at Spago Matt. Can you play this clip? I've had dog food You have Long time ago Doggy chow I still love doggy chow

Is that is is that normal They never talk about it again. It does not come up at any other point in the movie. Also, they do this weird little cheers with chips. Chips keep coming up in this movie. The fact that we both ate doggy chow. And liked it. I think it's just that they're both from poor families. But also both probably psychotic bitches who had to fucking kill to get where they are. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're both survivors, I think is kind of what that's implying.

Like, we've survived some shit, which is fine, it's just Doggie Chow is a funny name. So. There is a little bit of American psycho for women that I feel like in this movie where it's like, and I wish they leaned into it more, where I think Nomi is a serial killer. Like I think that she's on the road,

she fucking crushes it at a bunch of places. And then dudes fuck with her and then she kills people. Like I think that, and I feel like our girl here, Gina Gershon sees herself in this woman. And I also feel like Gina Gershon, in my opinion, this is my horny analysis. She is a superstar who has appealed to men her entire career, but has never been sexually satisfied

by men, and this woman is like, she is psycho. Like she's got a psychotic kind of thing. She's looking at her like, you're my new doggy chow. Well, also, you could be the end of my career, but also, I've never been hornier in my life. While we're talking about iconic lines in this movie, I think there's one more we need to play,

and then we'll get to the end. This is, so she quits the strip club. At the strip club there are two weird characters, the strip club owner who is nothing but a scumbag to her and Henrietta, Henrietta Bazooms, this kind of like comedian stripper who has a dress that falls down. She's the host.

Yeah, yeah. And she is very, very funny, but they come to see her at Goddess, and it's this kind of weird scene that they're playing, like these are her parents coming to tell her good job. And the sleazy strip club owner says this to her. Saw the show. You were good.

Thank you. Real good. You take care kid. Must be weird not having anybody come on you. Have you laughed harder? Have you, Matt, having not seen this movie, did that hit you like a fucking Mack truck? Huge laugh. I was like, you had such a good scene. It was great.

And then they were like, no, before you leave, talk about come. No, just so you can remind people that this is horny movie. Like they didn't need to do it and it was so perfect. Also, is that actor a Dick Tracy villain? I know, I know. The whole time I'm looking at him, I'm like, it's not makeup, he's just born with Dick Tracy face.

Well, yeah, I think he's, anyway. I think, in my opinion, I've had men say like. Weird shit like that? Yes, and it's their way of saying, I'm bummed that you're moving on. Right. Right. And I want to get one one other knock, like one other. Fuck you out to be like, well, no me. She's a huge star.

And we are headed toward the tragic fall, of course. So we're going to talk about the end of Showgirls, but first we're going to tell you about some exciting stuff you can get if you support this show and the worker-owned co-op that is MaximumFun.org in the Max Fun Drive. So here's that message. Hey there freebies, it's the Max Fun Drive, MaximumFun.org slash join. It's the time of year where we come to you and say, hey, if you like this show and you want it to continue, why not support it?

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and keep this show coming. Okay, back to Showgirls. I love you. We're back, it's Free With Ads. We're talking about Showgirls, the best movie of all time, the worst movie of all time. Yes. Yes. It is.

So, Nomi, she's famous. She's hooking up with Kyle McLaughlin. They have a very insane sex scene in a pool where she kind of like straddles him in the pool. We get a Kyle McLaughlin butt shot. Obviously this movie could use a little more male nudity. I think everybody can agree. Oh, 100%.

Nice tush on McLaughlin or his body double. My biggest gripe is that she goes to give him a blowjob under the water. How do you do that without death? Like how? Like I don't know how you do that part. I think this is like an impressionistic scene that is not meant to represent any actual sex.

All right, okay. No, no, but I think people debate this scene a lot of like what has anyone involved with this movie had sex? Because this movie seems to imply that they have not. Here's the thing, I've had sex in a pool. Hell yeah. It requires moisture and you wouldn't think that because it's water.

You'd think water is wet but it's not. You know it is. It's a different kind of wet. But like there's other lubricant involved. And you wouldn't think that because it's water you'd think water is wet, but it's There's other lubricant involved I think everyone learns this at some point in their life that it's like oh wait Pool sex isn't real what I saw here is that she's doing like another version of the dance. She did for him Yes, I don't think she is meant to be having sex with him in that position I think the idea is that she is getting off for the first time like she's doing the thing for him But it's for her benefit and not right is so I think the idea is that she's a little more empowered in this scene And I think that she's kind of like using him instead of him using her that was kind of my read But I think that's a nice way to look at but I think when you watch the movie

It just looks like oh the filmmakers have not had sex and don't know how it works. But so, you know, definitely adds to the funny, weird part of the movie. But I think if you're being generous. So she goes to this big, big fancy party where she's, oh, Gina Gershon, she pushes Gina Gershon down the stairs. I don't think we mentioned that.

So she sabotages Gina Gershon, falls down these metal stairs. And I think she's into it. Yeah, I mean, I think as we kind of see at the end, we think Gina Gresham kind of respects her for this move, but she's now the new lead of Goddess. She goes to this fancy party with this kind of like rockstar dude that's there.

You know, this is the thing we alluded to at the top of the show. This dude and his cronies like assault Molly, her friend. It's a real bummer. This movie is so much fun and this is like a shitty scene and doesn't need to be there. And you know, I think it just is this edge Lord darkness. So it is unfortunate. And I think we all agree that you can skip it and you can still have a lot of fun with absolutely. Yes. So yeah, so that happens. But no me being the wonderful friend that she is goes to the side, go path wonderful friend that she is, goes to this guy's-

And the psychopath that she is. And the psycho that she is, goes to this dude's hotel room, and karate kicks him, not to death, but she really karate kicks him a lot. I guess it's supposed to be like dance fighting. Anyway, she fucks this dude up. I think he died.

Yeah, did he die? I think she killed him. Great question. No, she fucking killed him? I think she killed him. Great question. No, she fucking killed him. I think she killed him. It was a lot of blood. Dude. Yeah.

It was amazing. She was yelling, fuck you, fuck off, while she was doing it, which is really funny. Yeah, so we kind of learned that she used to be a prostitute and was kind of like on the run. So yeah, I agree, a little bit anticlimactic. But also you could be a prostitute and still be a bunch of other things. Yeah, sure. And yeah, and I think it like, you know,

and I think that you would like this movie to be, you know, more like pro sex work, but it's not. And you know, like it's, you know, it's kind of like a kind of a crummy anticlimactic ending or that part of it at least. I do love her beating the shit out of this guy and she's returning, returning to the same side of the road we found her on in the beginning of the movie. She sticks out her thumb and the same fucking taco chin guy picks her up and she pulls one last knife as they drive out to Los Angeles

where the sequel that never happened was supposed to take place. And that's fucking- Showgirls. Showgirls. God, it was like, had so much potential to be- A different movie. So much more. If just 90% of the things were different, it would be different.

No, I'd say if 50% of the things were different. Yeah, that's fair. That's generous. Agreed, agreed. Well, yeah, we're going to do our wrap ups. But first, we got to do Hunk Watch. Yeah. It's Hunk Watch.

It's Gina, bitch. It's Gina Gershon. Yeah, I mean, obviously Gina Gershon, her name is, you know, her jersey is in the rafters of Free With Ads. She is a legend, always will be, looks great. All-star. Yeah, I mean, I don't know.

I'm always happy to see Kyle McLaughlin and things. I like him, you know, the tush was nice. That side butt cut situation. But maybe the butt cut ruined it for you. No, thank you. My hunk watch is, I don't remember the name of the character but it's like the large lady MC. She's my favorite.

I think she's my favorite. Henrietta, the queen of the bazooms. Yes, because there's this, she has this hilarious contraption on her dress that pulls down her, basically pulls down her dress to reveal her breasts, and it makes the funniest sound, and I have that here.

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! It just sounds like wind. There it is. These little foofs where it goes foof and I believe she had painted on nipples. I don't believe those were her actual nipples because they were good tits though. I gotta say. They were, they were great.

They were great. It's something funny about her. There are many funny things about her. She is great and definitely like giving the big camp performance that I think this movie needs. We see her in a different dress later in the movie that also does that. She has multiple dresses.

I love that just all of her clothes honk and fall down. She only wears parody clothing. I only wear comedy clothes. I love her. As soon as I saw this, I was like, I love strip clubs, by the way. It's the thing that... Oh, sure.

I've... I don't know. Some of them have buffets. Did you know that? I do know that. That's why I go to strip clubs for the buffets. Okay. Personally, I don't care. I avert my eyes when the tits come out. I avert my eyes. I am just there for biscuits and gravy. I get more horny. When you get laryngitis, you revert back to your single version of yourself. Yeah. Little horny guy. Yeah, you sound like a fucking radio host.

He's like, horny guy. Horny guy in the morning and the nabler. Well, we've talked about the hunks and now we're going to talk about what we think of showgirls overall. After this break, where we talk about the pledge drive here at MaximumFun.org. Hey, it's us, it's Free With Ads. We're the show you're listening to, and we're here talking about a different thing. We'll talk about Showgirls more later, but now we want to tell you about the cool gifts

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The few, the proud, the freebies. Yes, the few, the cheap, the horny, the free with ads listeners. Hell yeah. Maximumfun.org slash join. All right, back to Showgirls. We're back, it's Free With Ads. We are going to rank Showgirls on a scale of 1 to 10 super loud commercials and decide once and for all, is this brilliant or is it trash? Matt, as the first timer and the one with

the voice that sounds like it belongs to a character in the movie, let's hear about what you think first. I'm going to give this movie a solid 7.5. I loved it. I hated it a little bit, but then I loved it again. And what is that, a solid B, it's a B. So I'm giving it a 7.5. Truly, I thought it was pretty good. Everyone said it was shitty. Everyone acts like it's the worst movie ever made,

but it was pretty good. Yeah, Emily, I'll let you take it home, drive the nail into the coffin, and I will say that if I was gonna rank it, I wouldn't give it a B, I'd give it a double D. Oh, I can have Labyrinth, Giants 2. No, I'm gonna give this an eight. This movie is like so much fun.

It is so fun to debate whether or not it's serious, whether or not it's supposed to be funny. Like, I think that the mystery is part of it. It's a great party movie. It's a great drinking game movie. Yeah, but I also think it does have some satire stuff that really works. I think that a big theme of this movie

is rich people trying to control poor people. And it is like, you know, 2025, pretty fucking good satire angle to watch in 2025. And I think that the, the Elizabeth Berkeley character, Nomi, is she's so insane and so angry all the time. And it's like, that is funny, but also like fucking good. You should be mad at rich people.

You should be mad at rich people and tell them fuck you if they try and control you. It's like, she's, it's such a compelling character because like, that's how we feel, you know? That is how you feel when you're poor and people are trying to like, tell you what to do and control you. So yeah, I think that like, that part of it,

like it is so funny to watch her act like that, but also like, yeah, I don't know, fucking good, do it. Stab him, kick him in the face, do it, you should. Hell yeah, I'm serious. No me, you're a star. So yeah, I'm giving it an eight. There eight there's some you know there's some stuff we mentioned that's like not super fun to watch and takes some of the fun out of it but yeah showgirls it's it's if you're curious it's definitely worth a watch I'm giving

it an eight. Emily! Alright I'm also gonna give it an eight I truly hate the depiction of sexual violence I think it is the worst that I've ever seen in any movie personally. But if you put that aside, I think this movie is cool as fuck. Like Elizabeth Berkley also, I know got a lot of grief about her performance. She was from, you know, Saved by the Bell and everything. But as a tall girl myself, I've always admired her out of all the characters. And she's also a dancer. She's incredibly talented. I know that her performance was over the top. Like she's eating a burger harder than anybody's ever

eaten a burger before. But like, I liked it. I thought it was super cool. Some things about Elizabeth Berkeley, she after this went on to write a book and start an entire program about building self-esteem with teen girls and it became a program about building self-esteem with teen girls. It became a big piece of success in her life, bigger than I knew actually. Then she ended up

marrying this guy who is a clothing designer and nephew of Ralph Lauren. And I am a Ralph Lauren freak, by the way. She is the first woman to wear a Ralph Lauren wedding dress. Oh, I love that. I know! Anyway, so I loved it. Well, hey, that's it. We finally did Showgirls, you little, you little piggies. That was sloppy.

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