10B - The Michigan Daily - Weekend, etc. Magazine - Thursday, February 11, 1999

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The Michigan Daily -

Weekend, etc.

tc Road-Trip of the Week
Feb. 11: Big name, little town
/ What: Climax, Mich.
/ How to get there: Take 1-94 West past Jackson. Get off the freeway
at exit 92, immediately after the Battle Creek exits. Head past 44th
and 47th Streets, and take a hard left on Main Street across from the
cemetery. Main Street will take you through town.
/ How long: 1 hour, 10 minutes.
/ How Much: If you want to spend the night you have to know someone
in the area. Hotels are non-existent and there's only one restaurant.
/ What's There: A very sleepy little town - sd not much else.


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Small towns
offers few
tilis, lots
of bdjokes
By Wil Wissort
Weekend, etc. Editor
CLIMAX, Mich. - By far the most
exciting thing about the trip to this vil-
lage is getting there - once you've
reached Climax, it's pretty much all
over.
Visitors are confronted first by the
water tower. Anchored in what seems to
be a private resident's backyard and lit-
tered with spatterings of teenagers
looking for alcoholic release on
Saturday nights, the water tower
stretches high above the sleepy village
and is much more impressive than any
other building in the area. Not far from
the tower itself is the village's down-
town. Running along Main Street, the
city center consists of a bank, a carry-
out liquor store, a body shop and a fuel
supply outlet. On the far end of town,
past the town's second cemetery and its
only intersection, is an American
Legion post. Further down the road out-
side of village limits is Sinclaire's

By Ed Sholinsky
Daily Film Editor
Expect the worst and you won't be dis-
appointed. And at the very least,
"Showgirls" will fill a hole in your empty
social calender.
Then again, "Showgirls" has about as
much to do with sex as Larry Flynt has to
do with politics. It's a perversion, and rep-
resents the very worst about sex - and
film.
When "Showgirls" hit theaters, it was
one of the first NC-17 movies in a long
time with a wide release by a major stu-
dio. The movie had
more tits and ass
than you can
shake a... never j
mind.
"Showgirls" is
the story of Nomi
Malone (Elizabeth
Berkley) who
heads to Las Vegas
in order to live her Courtesy of United Artists

dream of being a dancer in a casino show.
Along the way, she meets James Smith
(Glenn Plummer), a bouncer who claims
he went to the Alvin Ailey School of
Dance, Molly Abrams (Gina Ravera), a
seamstress for one of the biggest produc-
tions in Vegas called "Goddess;' Zack
Carey (Kyle MacLachlan), an entertain-
ment director with a taste for cocaine and
rough sex and Cristal Connors (Gina
Gershon), a bisexual dancer who desires
and competes with the often -naked
Nomi.
Somewhere in the
midst of this is sup-
posed to be the touch-
ing story of a young
woman who, through
dancing naked, finds sexu-
al and personal liberation.
What comes out, however,
is a rather silly exploration of
. one woman taking her clothes
off for money and screwing
(rather tenaciously) every thing

that moves.
And for this reason, "Showgirls" is
the perfect video movie. It has enough
nudity to give the illusion that it's sexy
- at least for the first 10 or 20 minutes
- and enough horrendous acting and
atrocious dialogue to keep everyone
laughing.
Then again, director Paul Verhoeven
and screenwriter Joe Eszterhas, proved
they knew very little about sex with their
first group effort, "Basic Instinct." But at
least that movie had a plot and a lot of
Sharon Stone.
Berkley, too, has very little to do with
sex. It's obvious that after "Saved by the
Bell" she needed to break out, but this
is ridiculous. Watching her perfor-

Video Rewind
NC-17 'Showgirls' proves bad movies can sti

mance one would think she
of Ed Wood's later near-por
definitely not a big budget :
ture.
And that's what makes 1
somewhat rewarding. After 1
the fact that Berkley appears
day suit more than jeans and a
can fully appreciate just hov
movie is.
But in "Basic Instinct," wh
sex to a basic and primal lev
degraded both men and wome
people are clothed most of th
leaves some mystery, and give
thing to be excited about whet
come off.
The problem of the reductic

MA DRAKE/Special to the Daily
The sign marking the Climax city limits Is one of the village's few highlights.

a

ca
1

Market, where locals seek groceries.
"The name Climax has nothing to do
with sexual innuendo - it's because the
village is the highest point in the St.
Joseph's River Valley," explained Climax
native and University alum Jennifer
Harvey. "In fact there are seven Climaxes
around the country-- Climax, Colorado
is the highest point in the Rockies."
Outside of the downtown stretch are
basic track-housing and ranch style
homes. Furry and often-unleashed dogs

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and large-wheeled pick-up trucks are
the only things present to greet most
visitors. Harvey says Climax's 614 res-
idents aren't really accustomed to host-
ing many visitors.
"The big things there are high school
sports and farming," she said.
Climax/Scotts high school, on Main
Street just a block from downtown, is
home to the Panthers - whose baseball
team is Climax's main draw and has
won three state baseball titles.
The high school itself is not very
memorable except for a large, spray-
paint-covered rock that conjures up
memories of the corner of Washtenaw
Avenue and Hill Street. The rock,
though smaller than its Ann Arbor
counterpart, does sport its own yellow
street sign trumpeting "Warning: 'The
Rock"' sign to all passers-by.
Finally, those passing through will
want to stop at the Harvester Restaurant.,
on Main Street past the American Legion,
since it's the only restaurant in the area.
"That's where you go if you really
want to have a good time;" Harvey said.
"Climax isn't really much of a party
town."

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