Bette Midler: The Showgirl Must Go On
"I'm alive!" Bette Midler joyfully proclaims at the onset of her appropriately glitzy, gay and all together fab Vegas show. Unless you were aware that the Divine Miss M spent two years (180 shows!) at Vegas' Colosseum in Caesars Palace, who can blame you for thinking Midler had dropped dead? M's been on the downlow in the last decade, releasing just a Christmas album in 2006 before heading out to Sin City for this wildly entertaining but less-ornate-than-Celine show at the Colesseum, now on DVD and Blu-ray. You'll feel jipped considering that almost a third of the live show was cut for the release, an abbreviated version that clocks in at just over an hour (allegedly, it was an hour-and-a-half concert. Bette even says so. On the DVD!). Not cool, but definitely not as lame as the lack of extras – what, no backstage access? No Miss M commentary on the flamboyantly outrageous get-ups? I wanna see Bette do a quick change, dammit! Still, "The Showgirl Must Go On" is a real treat, showcasing Bette's biggest hits: "Friends," "The Glory of Love," "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," "From a Distance" and "Wind Beneath My Wings." She loses all the frills for "The Rose," stunningly singing it under a single spotlight like she was 30 years younger. Her voice, even at 65, still stirs with power and personality. But a Vegas show isn't just about the singing and in-between banter (what's a Bette show without boob talk?), and so there's sequins, an "Octomom" mouth couch, shimmery backdrops and a troupe of dancers called "The Caesar Salad Girls." It's all very gay, and very funny, even without Midler making note of the fact. "I share the Colleseum with Cher. Does it get any gayer?" Nope. Sure doesn't.
Jem and the Holograms: The Truly Outrageous Complete Series!
Madonna, Cyndi, Whitney… Jem? Yep, the cartoon chick rocker was as much a part of the '80s as those real-life divas with big hair and boy fans. She was truly outrageous, but if you knew Jem – and what gay kid growing up in the '80s didn't? – that's not all she was. She sang and worked the Tina Turner 'do like a contestant on "RuPaul's Drag Race." She was Superman with a vagina and an electric guitar. An explosion? Jem dodged it. Car dangling over a cliff, about to fall off and kill everyone inside it? Not with Jem around. Fancy earrings gave her persona-swapping powers that instantly morphed her from everyday Jerrica to Jem, rad rock goddess. She could time travel! Be a mermaid! But the real reason for her supernatural switches was to support a foster program for girls called Starlight. Cool couture was just a bonus. "Jem and the Holograms" was a sign of its times: a cultural zeitgeist that mirrored MTV (you know, when MTV played music) with its attitude, glamour and mini music videos – not to mention cheesy dialogue and absurd shit's-going-down cliffhangers – that were part of every episode. All 65 are featured on this DVD box set, which includes the entire four-year run and never-before-seen extras: animated storyboards, video jukebox, fan show-and-tell and cast interviews (hear what they have to say about a "Jem" movie!). Dig out that Jem doll, slip into a onesie and go to town. It's showtime, Synergy!
Bridesmaids
Put yourself in Annie's shoes: cupcake business closes, nosey roomies want you out and you're sleeping with a sleazy womanizer who loves himself more than you. Then your closest gal pal drops this bomb: She's getting married. Life couldn't suck harder for Annie (Kristen Wiig, rocking her first lead role) now that she's losing Lillian to domesticity. But that doesn't mean she won't fake a happy face for her BFF to be part of the bridal party, taking the prestigious maid-of-honor role among the other women – a cast that's one of the best ensembles this year (gotta love Melissa McCarthy, a gut-busting, man-hungry butch bridesmaid who acts and looks like a lesbian but isn't). Together they unite, in holy marriage hilarity, to plan this screwy wedding. Almost everything goes wrong: The bridal fittings go to shit. Their bachelorette party ends in arrest. Competition creates tension between Annie and Helen, who – in a classic scene of hysterical better-than-you trumping – try to outdo each other with their shower speeches that finally (or not finally) close with Wiig singing "That's What Friends Are For." But "Bridesmaids" isn't just for shits and giggles – there's lots of heart in Wiig's down-on-her-luck Annie (eating a cupcake never looked sadder) – though it's sweat-and-tears hysterical with wildly raunchy gags and one-liners you'll be Facebooking to your friends. Look for more laughs during the Blu-ray extras, where the cast goofs around during the decent Gag Reel, the girls debate a shrimp fork in one of the Deleted Scenes and there's a cut scene with Paul Rudd as a whackjob date. Also: Check out Line-o-Rama, a showcase for McCarthy's potty talk.
