Burlesque
Screen Gems | Release Date: November 24, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
21
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDec 9, 2010
It's big, perfectly cast and entertaining in every way, but more than that it feels like a generous public event. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezDec 9, 2010
Reminiscent of Showgirls minus the sex, nudity, sleaze, bad acting and horrible dancing, Burlesque is a typical A Star is Born story. Read full review
75
MovielineStephanie ZacharekDec 9, 2010
But what makes Burlesque truly delectable - for the first half, at least, before its going-nowhere storyline really heads south - is its less obvious camp value. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttDec 9, 2010
Women will love this, and men won't mind the eye candy either, so it looks like this Screen Gems release can't help becoming a hit. Read full review
70
TimeMary PolsDec 9, 2010
The results, while occasionally forced, are consistently amusing. Read full review
67
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallDec 9, 2010
Burlesque is what happens when an irresistible sex object like Aguilera meets Cher's immovable upper lip. It isn't always pretty but on occasion it's guiltily pleasurable. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubNathan RabinDec 9, 2010
Burlesque is a terrible film that will delight nearly everyone who sees it, whether they're 12-year-old Christina Aguilera fans or bad-movie buffs angling for a guilty pleasure. Read full review
65
NPRScott TobiasDec 9, 2010
It's silly and often laughable, but it's a sweet fantasy, too, produced in loving homage to the frothiest traditions of stage and screen. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayDec 9, 2010
Burlesque delivers eyeful after eyeful of rapid-fire opulence and spectacle. But its most memorable sight is the indelible image of one star taking flight, and another triumphantly staying put. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisDec 9, 2010
It's entertaining enough, like watching a celebrity workout film with a plot. But never once is it believable. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeyDec 9, 2010
Burlesque is a preposterous and intermittently entertaining lesson in how to make a movie musical with a little brains and a lot of talent. Read full review
60
EmpireHelen O\\\'HaraDec 13, 2010
Intentionally or not, it might be the comedy of the year. The music and dance are thrilling and the costumes saucy enough to satisfy, but the whole is so camp and clichéd that it must be deliberate. Right? Read full review
60
Time OutKeith UhlichDec 9, 2010
The divas rule in this glossy musical. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineSara Maria VizcarrondoDec 9, 2010
This rags-to-sequins tale may be schmaltzy in its sincerity, but 'tis the season. Glitter is optional, but certainly encouraged. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesBetsy SharkeyDec 9, 2010
Should you find yourself in the mood for Big Musical Numbers by the score rather than a film, there's a lot to like about Burlesque. Read full review
60
SlateJessica GroseDec 9, 2010
The enthralling dance numbers-flashy spectacles with feathers and bras made out of pearls and netting-and the combined sass levels of Cher and Christina Aguilera gloss over the movie's weaknesses. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianM. E. RussellDec 10, 2010
The drama is telegraphed and glossy and un-fascinating; the edges have been belt-sanded until any camp value is lost. And it's filmed in that "Moulin Rouge"/"Chicago" style where you see half a dance move before the shot cuts -- which somehow makes a lot of difficult, sexy work seem simultaneously frenetic and boring. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 9, 2010
A small group of viewers will find in Burlesque a gem to treasure for years to come. It's a bad movie lover's wet dream. For the average multiplex stalker, however, it exists somewhere between inconsequential and a waste of time, so that's where I'll peg it. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsDec 9, 2010
It's a worn-out show-business fairy tale piggybacking on a nonexistent trend. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyDec 9, 2010
Falling in the pillowy cleavage between mildly awful and slightly entertaining, Burlesque is a clichéd rags-to-diva story that culminates in a series of Christina Aguilera videos. Read full review
50
USA TodayScott BowlesDec 9, 2010
It bristles with exuberant numbers that strain beneath the weight of cliché. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 9, 2010
The bad news - it's not interesting enough to be a disaster. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertDec 9, 2010
Burlesque shows Cher and Christina Aguilera being all that they can be, and that's more than enough. Read full review
50
New York PostLou LumenickDec 9, 2010
Those looking for another "Showgirls" will be disappointed - writer-director Steve Antin avoids the seamy side of the business, and the same-sex flirtation is mostly between guys. Read full review
50
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreDec 9, 2010
A musical vamp on young LA's decade-long Pussycat Dolls fascination with tarting up like strippers and shaking those money makers, it's somewhat less than the sum of its parts. But those parts. Oh my. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderAndrea GronvallDec 9, 2010
The current burlesque revival is a throwback to ostensibly more innocent times, and writer-director Steven Antin finds something redemptive in each character. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeDec 9, 2010
An overwrought, underwritten hootchy-kootchy tuner that desperately wants to be "Cabaret," but lacks the edge and historical context to pull it off. Read full review
42
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerDec 9, 2010
If you go to Burlesque expecting a campy hoot on the order of "Showgirls," you may be in for a disappointment. It's not quite awful enough, although it's plenty bad. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumDec 9, 2010
Earnestly ersatz down to every spangle, dance move, plot turn, and line of hokum dialogue, Burlesque is a showbiz pic for these American Idol times - a time when we agree to pretend that mediocre mimicry of better artists is good enough to keep us entertained. We agree to pretend that quality is in the eye and ear of the undemanding beholder. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanDec 9, 2010
Sure, sometimes it's fun to be assaulted by sequins, wigs, corsets and retro homage. But Xtina's fans can find all that already - in videos ranging from "Lady Marmalade" to "Ain't No Other Man" - without having to sit through two hours of recycled plots and plastic acting. Read full review
40
SalonAlonso DuraldeDec 9, 2010
Anyone heading to Burlesque expecting it to live up to the standards of "Showgirls" is in for some serious disappointment: Burlesque isn't good, mind you, but it isn't the kind of bad that inspires midnight screenings and drinking games and Halloween costumes. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla DargisDec 9, 2010
Once again, Bob Fosse's "Cabaret" haunts the stage with derbies and splayed legs, but with results that are strictly Sally Bowdlerized. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsDec 9, 2010
The choicest dialogue in Burlesque provokes the sort of laughter that other, intentionally funny films only dream of generating. Read full review
30
Village VoiceKarina LongworthDec 9, 2010
What you remember when it's over is the impact of Aguilera's voice, but not what she's singing; montages of body parts, but not the choreography; and Aguilera's face, music-video-trained to hold a close-up so emotionally exaggerated, you might even call it a burlesque. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenDec 7, 2010
Burlesque bumps and grinds. And then it continues to grind and grind and grind. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 9, 2010
It could have been the 21st-century Showgirls. I wouldn't have missed that for the world. Instead, Burlesque, starring Cher and Christina Aguilera playing drag queen versions of themselves with all the vitality of Madame Tussauds wax dolls, is a bust that lacks the pizzaz and bugfuck nuttiness of Paul Verhoeven's 1995 trash epic. Read full review
25
ObserverRex ReedDec 9, 2010
Burlesque is the celluloid equivalent to a Big Mac attack, and any resemblance to a plot is purely coincidental. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternDec 9, 2010
Basically a theme-park version of a tawdry tradition. Read full review
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