What Everyone Says About It: "Why even bother with a film that was nominated for a record-breaking thirteen Razzie awards and went on to win seven, including Worst Picture, Worst Actress and Worst Director? Hell, in 2000 it won the 'Worst Picture of the Decade' Razzie and in 2005 was nominated for the 'Worst 'Drama' of Our First 25 Years' award. Bad acting, a silly plot and ridiculous sex scenes are enough to sink this one completely." Why It Isn't Terrible: The hate bandwagon for this film is so strong even from those who've never seen it, but most of them are forgetting that Showgirls is actually a satire of both Hollywood and the American dream, and how readily people will hurl themselves down the rabbit-hole of indignity in pursuit of the latter. The ridiculous scenes can't easily be downplayed (especially the instance where actress Elizabeth Berkeley has sex in a swimming pool and flops around like a dying fish), but the film is decidedly more self-aware than most realise, fully embracing its exploitative elements and aiming to garner shocked reactions from those who accept it only at a surface level. It's not the crazy masterpiece director Paul Verhoeven was clearly shooting for, but it's not a disaster either. Those parts you find hysterical? Most of them were intentional.