The Players Club

I had pretty low expectations for "The Players Club". It was directed by Ice Cube, who I never knew had been behind the camera, and it's the only movie he ever made, suggesting that it wasn't particularly successful.

My expectations were well and truly surpassed. "The Players Club" does get off to a rough start. It has a generally amateurish feel to the shots and edits, or perhaps just a low budget feel. Also the pacing seems strange - quite a lot seems to happen very quickly, and I felt the need to come up for breath.

But I persevered. There's just so much to like about "The Players Club". It's got a great ensemble cast, many entertaining characters, and quite a few unexpected twists and turns.

I say check it out.

This is basically a black, very superior version of "Striptease" and "Showgirls." It's not as sexy as "Showgirls," but what I really looked for was a better plot. This had one. LisaRaye gave an impressive debut performance as a college student trying to make ends meet. Bernie Mac can make the most dramatic piece of dialogue into stand-up comedy with his extraordinary vocal strength and stamina. I was very impressed with Ice Cube, his writing-directing debut, because, honestly, I didn't know he was capable. I like how he staged the scenes and built suspense. The great thing about it is that there is a considerable amount of violence, but no one is killed. For once, a black film where everyone lives. Another thing, this movie has the best, most vicious catfight I have ever seen.

Fair B quality movie depicting slice of black American strip club life in southern USA.Story is good social commentary on said lifestyle's evils and dangers but the movie suffers from a rushed directorial style and lackluster performances even by pro actors who have displayed better in the past.This was probabably caused by lack of directorial discipline on Ice Cube's part due to budget constraints.You can realy tell the veteran actors were not paid properly and just cruised along as a favor for Cube.Too bad for the movie's story was a good idea,setting up for great drama,action,comedy,sex,social commentary and entertainment much like the winning formula of SHOWGIRLS.I vote for a proper remake of this one!But as of now,avoid this movie unless you really want a peek into that lifestyle or are a big fan of any of the lead actors.Do not expect much sex scenes though for the focus on this one is social commentary......

This isn't the greatest movie in the world, but it is a definitely a hood classic. If you watch this movie for any reason at all, do it because of Bernie Mac. Dolla Bill is one of the funniest, most entertaining characters I've ever seen. So many great one-liners. "If I raise out this chair, its gone be trouble.....trouble." The movie actually could have been about him. That would have probably been a better movie.

The movie is star studded. The cast of Friday is pretty much in the movie. Lisa Rae is very beautiful and she carries the movie pretty well. Bernie Mac is still the stand out, but I think Diamond's story is pretty entertaining. I was entertained the whole movie despite the flaws. Ice Cube is an excellent writer. I think he could have directed more movies and he would have gotten better. I try to support artists instead of putting them down.

Check it out.

In an ideal guided tour about freakishly bad movies from 1977 onwards, The Players' Club should deserve a stop. It's got a terrible storyline that, along with the not-so-subtle clinging onto (or blatantly ripping off) the tradition of blaxploitation, makes up for a trite, short-living revival of that genre. But also it's one of those bad movies that are so bad you can't take your eyes off of it. Watch out for the (so fake it hurts) catfight scene between the "good" stripper Lisa Raye and the "bad", lesbian, vicious, bleached blonde, whatshername stripper. The small part of Ice Cube himself as the stereotype bad guy and the obvious "you can make all the money you want, but don't let money make a slave out of you" message (you're gonna hear it so many times throughout the movie it's gonna ring in your head like a f***ing bell for hours afterwards !) top it all. Rent it, but only if you know how much it's gonna suck.