A Wink and a Smile Image
Metascore

Mixed or average reviews - based on 5 Critics What's this?

  • Summary: An intoxicating mix of private thoughts and public behavior, A Wink and a Smile exposes more than the human body by putting gender, power, sexuality and social identity under the glittery spotlight, as it follows the lives of ten "ordinary" women who do something extraordinary – learn the art of burlesque dancing and striptease. Through their adventures, we see how a homemaker, a reporter, a doctor, an opera singer, a taxidermist and a college student, join the American cultural revival of burlesque, as it moves from fringe fascination to mainstream obsession, engaging a world where performance art and showgirl spectacle, music, theater and sensuality crash into over-the-top glamour - a world where many want to go, but very few dare. (First Run Features) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 5
  2. Negative: 1 out of 5
  1. Reviewed by: Ronnie Scheib
    70
    An old-fashioned postmodern hoot.
  2. 50
    It's all good clean fun; the movie is well intentioned to a blandly feminist fault. Just as burlesque loses most of its oomph when put on video -- no art is more dependent on the intimacy of live performance -- self-esteem trips are less compelling to hear about than to experience firsthand.
  3. 25
    Last week I thought watching women take their clothes off was sexy. This week I saw A Wink and a Smile.

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