Striptease

Demi Moore reinvented herself from a hot cutsie girl in the 80's to a powerful sexy woman in the 90's. She used that power to create some pretty dynamic roles at the time, G.I Jane being her best effort.

Striptease is not the greatest movie but it does have enough highlights to make it an ok watch. Rhames is enjoyable as is Reynolds.

Moore however owns the screen on this one. She had power at this time and she knew it and was happy to wield it. Good for her.

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.

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!!

This is a very misunderstood film. It's not some sleaze erotic thriller but a comedy drama. It can be off putting when you go from joke to a serious part of the story, and there might be a little too much stripping but it's not that bad. The story has murder mystery and and full belly laughs and a few terrific one liners. If it was made by the Coens everyone would call it a masterpiece. You shouldn't watch this film expecting something serious, just go with it and see how much fun you have. Burt Reynolds gives the performance of his career, Ving Rhames as good as ever, and there's Robert Patrick playing a loser so with out morals he steals wheelchairs for a living. Films like this, that are neither one thing or the other, are always uneven. But the director/writer manages to pull it off. It could be better but it could have been a whole lot worse.

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.