Showgirls is a 1995 film directed by Paul Verhoeven. It stars former teen actress Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan and Gina Gershon. The film centres on a drifter who ventures to Las Vegas and climbs the seedy hierarchy from stripper to showgirl.

Significant controversy and hype surrounding the film's gratuitous amounts of sex and nudity preceded its release. In the United States, the movie was rated NC-17 for "nudity and erotic sexuality throughout, some graphic language and sexual violence." Showgirls was the first and only NC-17 rated film to be given a wide release in mainstream theaters. United Artists dispatched several hundred staffers to theatres across the United States playing Showgirls in order to assure that patrons would not be sneaking into the film from other films, or that anyone going to see it was under 17 years of age.