The movie “Burlesque” has it’s roots in the classic musicals of the past in more ways than one. The music is catchy, the dance numbers are frenetic and the plot is simplistic at best. Although people do not break out into song in the middle of breakfast, they might as well, as the world of “Burlesque” borders on the surreal the way movie musicals tend to do. The bank is always foreclosing tomorrow, the solution is always just in time, and there’s always an excuse to sing. What is necessary to keep things from flying completely out of the realms of believability is a cast that can sell the world they live in to the audience.

Cam Gigandet and Christina Augilera do an admirable job of anchoring the film as leading man and woman. Christina plays Ali, a small town girl trying to make it big as a singer and a dancer, Gigandet plays Jack, the handsome bartender who takes her in, but cannot go from friend to lover as he’s engaged to be married.

There are a lot of firsts for both young actors in “Burlesque.” It is Christina Aguilera’s first feature film, and along with acting duties she wrote the music and performed it in the film. “It was exhausting… I had a lot on my plate.” said the young star. She does plan to keep acting, however, and didn’t want her first film to be a musical, but “‘Burlesque’ really spoke to me, I knew I had to do it.” she said smiling.

For Cam Gigandet, best known for playing villains like James the evil vampire in the first two “Twilight” films, it was his first go around as a romantic lead. This new direction “was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up” said Gigandet. When asked if he modeled his performance on any leading men of the past he said he did his own thing but of course that actors like Brando, Newman and McQeen influenced him Gigandet says with a smile “Those people know how to fall in love.”

Source: Hit Fix