It’s a rare musical that manages to bring two huge singers, Christina Aguilera and Cher, together as the main characters. Aguilera may not have the acting chops to become the next Meryl Streep , but her vocal pipes sure brought the house down.

Burlesque starts out as a typical rags to riches story. Ali (Aguilera), a country girl who is sick and tired of her mundane lifestyle, packs her bags and leaves for Los Angeles to pursue her dreams of becoming a singer.

Winding up at the Burlesque Lounge, run by Tess (Cher), the flashy costumes and bold dance moves captivates Ali. Vowing to perform there one day, Ali became a waitress at the lounge. Ali soon makes it to the stage and saves the show with her burgeoning talent.

Though the plot is bland and quite predictable – a country girl goes to a big city, falls in love and lives happily ever after – the difference is the addition of two music industry legends, Aguilera and Cher.

Between them, they have sold more than 100 million albums and garnered numerous Grammy’s. Cher, who last acted in the 2003’s Stuck On You performed to UrbanWire’s expectations of being nothing short of incredible. Though she only sings two songs in the film, Cher makes up for it with her no-nonsense drama mama attitude.

As for Aguilera, it was startling obvious that Burlesque was her debut film. Her acting was forced and plastic as she stars alongside the more experienced Cher. The Oscar winning singer-actress even said in an interview that she had to give Aguilera acting advice in some scenes.

However, Burlesque was a great platform for Aguilera’s first foray into film as it shows her at her best – belting out big notes. Even though the story was dead on arrival, one can’t expect too much considering the amount of time and money they spent on roping in the two stars.

Out of the 10 songs in the album, Christina co-wrote two and performed eight, while Cher performed the remaining two. With music legends such as Etta James and Diane Warren writing the songs, the soundtrack could hardly go wrong.

The picture has been nominated for three Golden Globes, for Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical and twice in the category of Best Original song.

After all, it did take a legend to make a star.

Movie: Burlesque
Rating: 3.5 / 5

Opens: 13 Jan
Duration: 119 mins
Language: English
Age Rating: PG
Genre: Drama, Musical

Director: Steve Antin
Cast: Cher, Christina Aguilera, Stanley Tucci