Striptease (1996) Starring: Demi Moore, Burt Reynolds. Genre: Comedy / Drama MPAA Rating: Unrated DVD version reviewed Director: Andrew Bergman Book: Carl Hiaasen Screenplay: Andrew Bergman Runtime: 115 minutes.

PLOT:
After losing a child custody case and getting fired from the FBI, Erin Grant (Demi Moore) decides to go work at the Eager Beaver strip club. This club is supposed to be in Florida (possibly Ft. Lauderdale). I have not read Carl Hiaasen's book but the movie glosses over how she decided to become a stripper. We are lead to assume that she needed a lot of money for her attorney fees and that was the only way that she could get it. Erin being a single parent and having a child custody problem seemed very real to me.

The second sequence of the movie (including the remaining credits) show the Eager Beaver club. This club is very upscale, topless with alcohol, with a sign outside that all LA clubs would envy. The club itself has a large stage with runway and 2 other go-go dancer type micro stages.

At the entrance, there is a sign with the dancers names on it, "Erin Grant, Urbana Sprawl, Sabina Hepburn, Ariel Sharon, Tiffany Glass". All the dancers had last names. Highly unusual for house dancers but perhaps not so in that part of Florida. Erin elects to use her real name instead of a stage name. She's worried about the judge on her child custody case and she's using her real full name? No F-in' way.

Next, we are introduced to two PLs who are big fans of Erin. One is a mega-PL who brings her flowers and asks if he can help with her child custody case, and the other is a pervert Congressman. Both are played over the top, but the concept of the PLs is relatively accurately portrayed. They watch her dance like she's a goddess. The Congressman has Erin's laundry lint retrieved so he can jack-off on it.

During later scenes, there is mention of celebrity customers (Larry King and Michael Jordan), yet at this very upscale gentlemen's club, the single bouncer grabs a touchy customer by the head and drags him away in the open. I would think they would at least take him to a secluded area before kicking the crap out of him. There are three club fight scenes, all of which do not ring true cinematically but this movie is promoted as a comedy. However, the fact that fighting at clubs is included at all is good. At least it tries to reflect the activities that can take place at strip clubs.

There is a scene where the bouncer, Shad, is shown watering down the bottles of alcohol (with a funnel, no less) out in the open while the club is still open. I realize it's a comedy but that seemed too over the top for my taste. After the fight on stage with Erin, she tries to tip Shad and he refuses to take her money. At first, this seemed unreal to me but since it's shown that he has a warm place in his heart for Erin, I could see that was to show the audience how he felt about her.

Although the owner of the Eager Beaver is called an asshole by the dancers, the owner was played fairly likable, almost like a guy that couldn't help being an asshole. I felt that he was way too nice to be an owner. He introduced the new dancer to the other girls, and operated the club almost like a real business. Not very realistic, IMO. The dancers would walk all over this guy and he would be out of business.

There is a scene where Erin has to bring her daughter Angela (played by real life daughter Rumer Willis) to the club while she is working and tells the other dancers to make sure that Angela does not see her dancing on stage. Angela sneaks a peek and later tells her mom that she thought she looked pretty. On many occasions, I've seen when kids had to be at strip clubs for various reasons, and it's a difficult situation. This scene is one of the more realistic poignant scenes in the movie.

MUSIC:
Eurythmics and (TAFKA Prince) are used in the movie. Both were big favorites at strip club at one time or another and is realistic for this movie. When Erin is dancing for the Congressman, she uses If I was your girlfriend by . However, in the scenes where Erin is really trying to "get down" with herself, the Eurythmics song (I think) seemed too laid back for my taste. I think even some other songs by , like P-Control, would have been better.

As for the soundtrack to the movie, I really can't recommend it, because other than the single song, there's nothing on there that's really that great.

Now, for what you've been waiting for...

DANCE SEQUENCES:
First off, let me mention that the choreographer was Marguerite Pomerhn Derricks (the choreographer for Showgirls). Although I saw nothing spectacular, many of the dance moves were definitely authentic strip club moves. Since this is a big budget mainstream movie, I applaud Derricks and the director for not "cleaning" up the dances too much.

Now, let's get down to the nitty gritty. Usually, movies just has a token strip club scene where a dancer is dancing behind the main characters. In this movie, the stripping scenes are actually the main part of the movie and the other scenes where a dancer is in the background need not be discussed. There are basically 8 major dance scenes in this movie. 2 are not in the strip club.

1. The first dancer we see dancing on stage is Monique Jr. She does some pole work but it's a reflection on the ceiling and may have been a double.

2. This is the first dance sequence by Erin and is long and made into a big deal. She is wearing a full suit, tie and hat. She does the usual "tie between the legs" trick and does some little pole work.

   After examining the sequence, the pole work shot where she is in shadows is probably a body double but in the case when her face is slightly hidden, I think is really Moore. In any event, the pole work is rudimentary and nothing to get excited about. Certainly nothing that a regular club goer hasn't seen every day. Although this is supposed to be a big production scene, I didn't find it to be super sexy. Sort of reminded me of a lot of feature dancers.

3. The second strip sequence by Erin is sexier. She is supposed to be mad about her ex-husband and is taking it out on stage. This attitude is very realistic.

   She does a great performance by doing an air lap dance with a chair, then later kicking it down. At the end, she "makes up" with the chair. Nice touch.

   This is a topless scene with plenty of g-string ass shots, splits and other great moves. Unfortunately, her boob job is not very good. I realize that Moore must have the best surgeon and her breasts look great in clothes, but I don't think he knew she would be doing a stripping movie. Her tits notwithstanding, this is Moore's best strip scene in the movie.

4. The owner of Eager Beaver visits the competition (Flesh Farm) and sees Lorelei dancing with her snake, Monty. Lorelei is cute looking and has nice small breasts but she's got the "white girl ass" affliction.

   But don't miss this scene because the snake gets its tail between Lorelei's legs and it looks kind of kinky. I wonder if this would be legal in real life. I've seen posters with Natasha Kinsky and a snake and she appeared to be nude, but she wasn't in a strip club. In any event, this short scene is worth a look. Don't fast forward past it.

   While we're talking about the Flesh Farm, let me just say that although it was probably the same set with different stages, their stage did not have a runway and was one of those stages in the middle of the room (like the Rhino stages). Personally, I liked this setup better in the movie.

5. Erin dances with a boa while her daughter looks on. Nothing to write home about since it's kept relatively clean and not as sexy to keep the daughter "factor" less of a bummer to the audience.

6. Erin visits the Congressman Dilbeck (Burt Reynolds) on his friend's yacht for a 1-hour private dance for $2000. Dilbeck is expecting to get laid for that kind of money but she just goes topless with g-string and pushes away his roaming hands. At the end, she gets mad and leaves.

7. Second trip to Dilbeck's but this time it's for $5000 and he really expects to get laid. For that kind of money, he should be getting 5 girls. This scene is cut short and no nudity is shown. You can just skip over this scene unless you are interested in the plot.

8. I didn't get her name but a blond girl dances at the Eager Beaver near the end of the movie, and she is actually a decent dancer.

   During her stripping scene, she almost does a floor show, without touching the floor by holding onto the pole. For clubs with rules against floor shows, this would be the closest thing you could do.

   At the end of her scene, she goes topless with g-string and her small but perky breasts look fantastic compared to Moore's fake balloons. She also has some real booty, a little big, like the kind that I like.

There is one more scene which takes place after Laorlei's snake dance, that deserves a mention here. Erin has just gotten out of the shower, and is just having fun listening to music while she gets dressed. She doesn't really do a strip show but comes pretty close when she opens her towel and shows us her booty. Sorry to ruin the fantasy, but unfortunately, when I single framed the scene, there was one frame which appeared to show her wearing some type of g-string that was hiding her pubic area. However, there is plenty of booty to see in this scene, and worth a look.

SUMMARY:
All in all, this movie's got plenty of strip club scenes and stripping to go around, but although many will disagree, I don't find Demi Moore very attractive as a dancer. There were not enough scenes with other dancers to make it a home run for me. Also, the stripper plot was too slick and lame. If it was supposed to be funny, it wasn't.

Could have been hot with the right casting and a better plot.