Striptease

I read the book first and I can only say that I feel sorry for its author, Carl Hiassen. The book was an extremely funny satire of capitalism, politics, gender roles, etc. and the film was just an excuse for the lead actor to show off her surgically enhanced body. I mentioned the book in a university tutorial for my course on literary satire, and no one would believe me that it was not trash because they could not separate it from the movie which followed it. Too bad - the book is good enough to have warranted a script that stays true to the original story rather than exchange wit and sophistication for extended dance sequences and the lubricatory possibilities of yogurt.

...the flop that deserves six of its Razzies and the nomination for Worst Picture of the Decade?

I think, "Striptease" (1996) directed by Andrew Bergman based on the book by Carl Hiaasen, is all of the above - a curious mixture of laughs, satire, absurdism, darkness, silliness, and over-seriousness. The latter comes from Demi Moore who plays Erin Grant, the FBI secretary - losing her job and the custody over her daughter to no good small time crook wheelchairs stealing husband (Robert Patrick looking and acting like a stoned, redneck version of Gary Oldman) and who takes a job as an exotic dancer in the local club "Eager Beaver" to earn money for her court appeal. In the club she becomes the hottest attraction and meets many...interesting characters, the most colorful being, of course Congressman David Dilbeck (Burt Reynolds) who "just loves naked women. It's a character flaw" and who is absolutely smitten by Erin. Erin also makes friends with a club bouncer, Shad (Ving Rhames) who is perhaps the best thing in the movie - clever, sharp, sarcastic, with the great sense of humor. One scene where Shad tells to Dilbeck's bodyguards that Meryl Streep used to work in "Eager Beaver" as an exotic dancer and they seem to believe him is brilliant. If only everything had been as good as he was we would've had a really great movie. What do we have now? Well, Demi Moore looks really good with the minimum clothes on. I mean, the woman was a 33 year old mother of three at the time and her body was marvel to behold. I just think that she was too serious, intense, and solemn doing the striptease numbers – after all it is not only strip it is tease, too. It goes to her acting in the movie in general. Reynolds seemed to have a lot of fun with his sleazy drunk Congressman David Dilbeck, election-day choice of Christian groups and a lot of laughs comes from his mannerism and quotes. There are plenty of laughs, actually, in "Striptease" but quite often they seem like the wrong and unintentional type for the movie material.

Who had the best laugh? I'd guess, Demi Moore did after been paid $12.5 million – one of the highest paychecks for an actress back then.

The novel "Striptease" was everything you could ask for in a novel. The movie is the complete opposite and a major disappointment for me. I thought Demi was a decent choice and also applauded the casting of Robert Patrick as her good-for-nothing ex, and Ving Rhames as a bodyguard at the club.

However the entire thing ended up being a mess, and I can only hope I can erase the image of Burt Reynolds in his boxers, smothered with petroleum jelly from head to toe, from my mind.

Read the book!!

Different people watching this film see different movies. T and A people see naked and think great. The rest see this as crap. Except for Carl Hiaasen fans. I'm one of the latter and since I've read the book I can't help but see this as an attack on political corruption and environmental folly.

After losing her job as an office clerk for the FBI due to her ex-husbands recent criminal proclivities, Erin Grant (Demi Moore) resorts to stripping to support herself and her daughter as well as the high legal fees of a custody battle with said ex. When a corrupt congressman takes a lewd interest in Erin, she is drawn into a profitable but dangerous situation involving Florida sugar growers.

Become a Carl Hiaasen fan and see this movie for what it really is and delegate the stripper bar to just the setting, much as a spaceship is in a sci-fi movie. It's not a great movie, but when can see the content rather than the package, it is worth far more than a 4.3. Burt Reynolds character is worth much more than that. It deserves a 5 or so. I give it a 6 just for Hiaasen.

It may not have mirrored the book, but it has its own charm. I haven't read the book, so maybe that's why I can judge the movie on its own merits.

Ving Rhames is terrific-- honestly, has he ever had a clunker of a performance? Demi is luscious (the dance scenes, and the cute scene where she's getting dressed/dancing after a shower), and Burt Reynolds is hilarious. I really loved the congressman character meeting the right wing group slathered in vaseline. "Fresh, hot, lint!" indeed! Give it a whirl... it ain't Citizen Kane, but it ain't Battlefield Earth either.