3. Showgirls (1995)
Showgirls was the first NC-17 film to achieve a widespread theatrical release. It features the adventures of Nomi - an erstwhile juvenile delinquent who arrives in Las Vegas determined to be a mega star Showgirl. She gets to the height of Showgirl in a dodgy way - shagging the entertainment director Zack (the proverbial casting couch for wannabe showgirls) and deliberately inducing chief Showgirl Cristal's accident so she can snatch her role. An episode with a friend who gets brutally raped by her idol singer, wakes Nomi up to all of the corruption in Vegas - corruption that she has taken place in. She turns vigilante to kick the crap out of the man who raped her friend and it is a case then of leaving Las Vegas. Almost universally derided by the critics (Roger Ebert made a slight concession when he said there were worse films), critical opinion has not stopped Showgirls from being a cult hit on VHS and DVD. It is gloriously campy and silly, but compulsive watching, with plenty of quotable lines and laughter at the tacky sex that unfolds on screen. A lot of this is quite explicit, hence the NC-17 rating. An R rated version was released for rental that chopped off three minutes of action, but I would avoid this and stick with the version integrale. Great fun if you are in a salubrious frame of mind.