Indefatigable Watch: Showgirls 2 - Penny's From Heaven (2011)

Watched:  04/14/2024

Format:  Amazon 

Viewing:  First

Director:  Rena Riffel

Selection:  me.  And Jamie did not watch.

Okay.  So, a couple of years ago I became aware of the existence of Showgirls 2:  Penny's From Heaven (2011).  But finding information about the movie was pretty difficult.  

The film was made a good fifteen years after the release of the actual Showgirls, and is - legally - not associated with that film.  It was, however, written, produced, edited and directed by Rena Riffel, who played a supporting part as "Penny" in the original film.  You will remember her as the girl with the blonde bob at Cheetah's.  

In olden days, I would have live tweeted the film, but I chose not to subject anyone else to my curiosity about this mysterious artifact as I didn't know what I was walking into, so (a) no watch party, and (b) no live tweeting the film.  

Aside from Riffel's involvement, I knew nothing before hitting "play".  Here are my notes.

• Oh no.  This is shot on regular HD video circa 2010.  There was no sound mixing.  They're using a room mic of some kind.
• Yup, that's Penny and Jimmy from the original film.  Actors Rena Riffel and Glen Plummer.
• She's... still stripping 15 years after the original movie.  To her credit, she looks exactly the same.
• This strip club is clearly not a strip club.  She's dancing in a bar and grill against a pole attached to a carousel horse shaped like a duck.
• Ah, the plot:  apparently a movie producer is offering "Penny" a job in a movie called "Showgirls 2".  Meta.
• The camera work is on a par with A Talking Cat!?!
• I can't explain the weird Wizard of Oz thing this movie is about to try to do, but it is going to try
• We're doing an homage to the OG Showgirls out of order
• It just occurred to me, she abandoned her kid and husband
• The sound is so good, you can hear the insects in this night scene and cars passing nearby
• Oh no.  This is 2 hours and 25 minutes.
• Oh no.
• no no no no
• why?
• We've descended into the scene with new characters that aren't explained, but the movie seems to know what's happening, even if we don't
• We're in the lush forest between Las Vegas and LA
• Oh, shit.  Murder?
• I think this is all a long sideplot so Penny gets a free car?
• Oh, and money
• Life is hard out there.  H1N1 and shit.
• The nice thing about this movie is that it's violently against the scenes flowing into each other.  
• Penny is selling dances and beer bong chugs at a petting zoo?
• I have absolutely no idea what Seven Sisters is in Southern California.  This movie thinks we all know, and I think there's some comment here, but I have no idea what it would be
• we're now in a sub-plot about the origins of the swastika 
• annnnd there's Satan
• we're only 34 minutes in
• Penny is bad with money
• I wish someone would say what is happening in this movie
• I literally can't tell if this is a movie about someone joining a cult or what is happening
• It seems like they must have rented out one big property to make this movie and we're just seeing bits and pieces of it
• Yup.  Random dogs barking in the background.
• Oh a pillow fight.  Things are looking up.
• Whoops.  accidental hooker!
• So there's this dance show Penny went to LA to appear on, and I had kind of forgotten about it, but they just pulled a Nomi pushes Gina Gershon down the stairs bit here
• this side plot is, unshockingly taking up way too much time
• and this one actress is really working with what English she knows
• Now this is a movie about STAR QUALITY
• This quality is defined as "people innately want to have sex with you" 
• So I think they did understand Showgirls
• Now watching two women in their 40's pretend to do ballet lessons
• once again, I am not sure if this movie is very, very bad or trying to be funny
• I have 1,000,000 questions about this movie
• A very extended sequence with two women holding hotdogs, and the symbolism is subtle
• This is all very intentional and silly
• I am trying to decide if this is the best movie I've ever seen
• I am unsure, but I think this one actor might actually have ballet training
• they are playing music cues from The Nutcracker
• Oh, no.  A swimming pool. And as we keep referencing the first Showgirls...
• yup, here we go
• we are officially in Skinemax territory as we approach the 1 hour, 25 minute mark
• Oh my god, they're doing the pool sex scene from the OG but with none of the context, as it were
• Also, it's two women, so 
• I was not expecting actual nudity in this, but here we are
• We're back at the Star Dancer show
• Okay, I have zero idea what is happening again
• okay, weird monologue that explained it, I guess, but it's all tell, no show
• liberal application of cold cream to a mirror?
• and face
• BTW, Penny has no cell phone, so she's using the last pay phone in Los Angeles
• Whomever wrote this seemed unclear on the concept of exposition, or just really, really wanted to leave you in the dark til partway into every scene who people are and what they're doing and why
• Oh, this was shot in a hotel room.
• very confusing sex scene happening
• they're using a musical selection from Carmen, so it's classy!
• Oh no.  They've introduced a snuff film subplot
• there's also that cult angle again
• I'm noticing this part is shot in someone's pretty nice house and we've lost sight of the original location from this movie, and I have to think this movie was shot somewhat in order
• "We have perverts to please of all ages" is the new slogan for this website
• We are way, waaayyyy too late in the game for "this feels humiliating" to happen to this character
• Well, we've stopped for an awkward dance sequence
• I think this movie may come down to a lack of paperwork for Penny
• Penny very slowly pushed her pimp down the stairs
• and shot him with a cap gun
• oh, it's the blanks she mentioned 2 hours ago
• Katya's motivations are confusing at best
• Oh no, we're getting artsy with a dream sequence as we near the 2-hour mark.
• Well, we're back in the woods again
• and the cop from the start of the film
• weeks later the *paper* items dropped at the beginning are exactly where they were left, and in perfect condition
• I still don't know if this is supposed to be a comedy
• Oh, Katya.  You so crazy.  
• This entire movie may be implicitly about what it means to be over 40 in Hollywood and it's wildly depressing
• They just ruined a really nice looking piece of cake
• All of the roads in this movie are gravel.  Not a metaphor, just a fact.
• This movie posits that you can turn someone's remains into a diamond*
• this is getting really complicated
• they've now inserted a dead sister storyline into the movie here in the third hour of the film
• Clearly not San Francisco is San Francisco
• Oh, we're back to hooking
• this is apparently preferable to stripping?
• Oh, huh.  Racist Asian thing here.
• I'm back to not knowing what is happening, or at least how it ties in with anything we've seen before.  
• And they're playing cues from the Nutcracker as Katya stripper hits the stage
• Penny has sabotaged Katya is now taking her place in this stage show in front of a swordfish
• It's possible this actor has no idea how to dance, which has been a refrain throughout the movie
• I do not know what show this is, who is supposed to be watching and why it's important
• approximately three people applauding
• Oh, wow.  Jimmy is back.
• I cannot believe he agreed to this.
• There was just a suggestion that Penny is now successful, but with absolutely no scenes backing up that idea.  Someone just said it as a fact.
• The audio is pretty abysmal, but Penny was just arrested for murders she didn't commit at the beginning of the movie
• this guy has weird ears
• She did 6 months for murder of 3 people?
• I think this prison is a stairwell on top of a parking garage
• Oh, good lord I think it's ending
• And, yeah, time is a flat circle, etc....

*TIL you CAN turn someone's ashes into a diamond.  What a world.

So, that was Show Girls 2: Penny's From Heaven, available now, streaming on Amazon.com.

This is not the first movie I've seen that was incoherent and felt like it was made from the fever dream of a very ill person who'd once seen a similar movie over someone's shoulder on an airplane.  But it is a fascinating bit of Hollywoodana.    

I guess no one from the Showgirls studio was overly threatened by this, and there was no lawsuit because this movie *is* available.  It does borrow themes and scenes from the original, and it can feel a bit like a C- film school project when they ask you to recreate a scene from a movie as an exercise.

Look, I don't want to cut you loose on this movie without acknowledgements that it's mostly women standing around in their underwear or slinky dresses. There's a surprising amount of nudity for a movie I can't imagine anyone was paid to be in, and the plot is what it is.  

It feels like there were several different ideas tied to this movie that didn't quite happen (like the cult stuff that pops up and disappears, the snuff film or the Wizard of Oz stuff that's in the beginning but vanishes), and likely cast that weren't available as the movie went along.  It's definitely an argument that a first time writer/ director should also not be their own editor.  

The performances can best be described as "I got my friends to do this."  Scene after scene starts with no context, and there's no explanation of what's happening, what we're seeing matters, etc...  and lots of dance sequences occurring for mysterious audiences that go unseen.

But this is all academic.  I don't even question why Rena Riffel made this - she's a Hollywood person who is probably most famous for her appearance in a cult movie, and she saw an opportunity.  I have many more questions about the script, the shooting, and what the gameplan was.  And, of course, what tone we were supposed to be feeling, minute-by-minute throughout this movie.