As Divas do Blue Iguana

This movie is a film that has a lot of heart to it in a industry where most women are viewed as tramps and bimbos this movie actually shows that strippers have their ups and downs just like women in every other profession. The plot may have lacked at times as other commenters have stated but at least this film is a breath of fresh air from many of the typical strippers being stalked and killed and explotative Cine-porn films out there. Strong performances from Sandra Oh and Jennifer Tilly and up and coming actress Charolette Anyanna is a stand-out as well. Please before you judge this film too harshly look at the other films that represent strippers in cinema as nothing more than T-n-A and you'll realize this movie is just trying to show them as women with the same joys and heartbreaks of life as everyone else.

I had skipped this title on cable even though I knew it was about strippers. I then saw a newspaper article about Sheila Kelly's stripper dance classes, book and video called the S Factor. Being a former stripper I was intriqued because I am interested in teaching women what strippers know. So when I had the chance I watched Blue Iguana wanting to see if the actresses nailed the dancing part. While they "got" some of the moves, I saw no truly impressive dancing. Tilly's brash in your dancing face style was realistic, showing one need not have dancing ability to play the crowd. The rest of the women showed no variety in their moves. I do think they were trying to show how drunk Angel was on a nightly basis. Only in the scene where the club is not open and she practices her pole work do you see a sober Angel dancing like she can. Contrast with her performance where she slides off the stage onto her head. I loved the way no one reacted and she just rolled back up there. Angel's dumbness is totally realistic. The dressing room dialog was very realistic. What did not ring true is Jasmine's boyfriend not knowing she is a stripper and walking out when he saw her dance. Most men would have stayed.

I'm going to be brief and succinct. (I have been advised that brevity is not permitted, I have had to pad my comments to satisfy the website rules) I loved this film and all the actress' performances. They made the risky choice of portraying the sleezy world of strippers & stripping.

My sister was a stripper and on many occasions I had to contact her at some of the clubs she worked. These places made my skin crawl, the smells were overpowering. (I will avoid description.) All were located in Southern California near the airport.

Everything in the film was accurate and well represented. However, the corruption was a bit glossed over.

I strongly recommend that everyone who has had a daughter, sister, mother or friend involved in this creepy business, to rent the film and watch it.

Many times in the past, I had tried to discourage her from continuing in this field but her response to me each time was, "Can you make over $1,000 a week at what you do?"

Fortunately, after three breast implants (bigger and better for more tips), and ultimate body breakdown, she has since retired 2 yrs. ago at the age of 52. She still looks good but she has NO Social Security to rely upon. However due to class action suits against the breast implant people she has managed to run a business on the big island in Hawaii.

It is my understanding that the most of this project was done via improvisation which would explain for its peaks and drops. I would imagine that filming a project based on improv is difficult but at times this cast of actors make it look scripted. At best, Jennifer Tilly shows one how its done, at worse, you wish Darryl Hannah had a script.

Here you are presented a few days in the lives of your regular ordinary everyday working strippers/dance gals at a club that is..where else but the Los Angeles San Fernando Valley. You get it all, the drugs, the cat fights, the sex and the overall portrayal that its just a job, a job that is like any other with all the same problems. The five main characters do it well. Jennifer Tilly is the best, Sandra Oh runs a very close second. I was a tad disappointed in Shelia Kelley's character, but Shelia did great with what she had to work with, and I felt the same with little Charolotte Ayanna's character portrayal as well. But Darryl Hannah, who's character was pretty developed more than all the others was pretty sad to watch under this method of outlined improv. The owners of the club were good as well with what they were handed, I just wish I could have known more about them and what made them tick to be at this club. One of the best scenes that makes this kind of dramatic acting inprov filming/work come together is the end with the stripper/writer character played by Sandra Oh and the overglorified porno star who danced for the evening played by Kristin Bauer.

This film had a few small holes here and there to me, but I really enjoyed watching the actresses and actors work with this kind of project on this kind of level..and if you watch some scenes real close, you can see that a few of the actresses and actors were surprised at the lines coming out of other actresses mouths which is what I believe this project was all about. Only on that level, I grant this film of a peek into the lives of these women -- as an overall success and I hope that other film makers explore the genre. It's brings alot of realism in a fictional background.

A must see for anyone studying acting, a rare kinda find for us the regular film viewer, and for those who want to turn in to their cable sets in the middle of the night and watch a bunch of girls strip and dance -- well, that's there too, but Michael Radford lets you know, that is not what is important.

This was a movie about the lives of 5 different strippers (Jennifer Tilly, Charlotte Ayanna, Sandra Oh, Daryl Hannah & Sheila Kelley). Supposedly, the original script was intended to be built around Kelley's character "Stormy", but as the actresses got to know their own characters and grow into them, the script was adapted to feature all 5. In fact, I think the Stormy character had the least amount of screen time. It was probably the worst story of the five. None of the five stories stuck out as being great. All were average, thus, the movie was average.

The five co-stars here are all good actresses in my opinion, and that saved the movie from the horrible movie it could have been. One thing I did like about the movie is that the actresses that played strippers were not afraid to play strippers. I mean that in a couple of different ways. First, and in many ways most importantly, they were not afraid to be nude on camera. Usually, even in B-movies, there is one actress who wants to play the character but does not want to do what is necessary to play the character. Lets face it, we watch this movie because it is about strippers, and therefore, we expect to see them strip! The second point I want to make here is that the actresses did their homework as far as how the stripper routines work. They obviously took a class or studied on their own the art of "working the pole" and lap-dances, etc. This gives the movie credibility. Not one of the girls looked out of place dancing in the nude. If I was grading this purely on the striptease portion of this movie, it would get a 10. Pretty good stuff.

Unfortunately, this movie is being graded as a whole, and as far as the plots go, they are not quite up to par. The actresses went as far as they could with the given material and more often than not, the movie dragged on, despite the acting, itself, being quite good. I've just recently noticed Sandra Oh and I have to say, she is a pretty versatile and darn good actress.

Jennifer Tilly also stepped up a bit as the rough, biker chick stripper/dominatrix on the side. She played the most troubled girl at the club, Jo, who had to deal with the fact that she was pregnant, on drugs, etc. Everything that could be wrong with her was wrong with her.

Robert Wisdom also did a great job as the sleazy strip club owner, Eddie. His character was strong and was the guy who kept the girls in line at work.

Overall, this was a pretty average story, despite how well the girls and rest of the cast did. I have a feeling a different cast would have made a complete mockery of the movie. As it is, I give it a 6 of 10.