Striptease (1996) Columbia/Comedy-Drama RT: 117 minutes Unrated Version (nudity, erotic dancing, language, sexual references, violence) Director: Andrew Bergman Screenplay: Andrew Bergman Music: Howard Shore Cinematography: Stephen Goldblatt Release date: June 28, 1996 (US) Cast: Demi Moore, Armand Assante, Ving Rhames, Robert Patrick, Burt Reynolds, Rumer Willis, Stuart Pankin, Paul Guilfoyle, Robert Stanton, Jerry Grayson, William Hill, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Gary Basaraba, Pandora Peaks, PeSean Wilson, Dina Spybey, Barbara Alyn Woods, Kimberly Flynn, Rena Riffel, Gianni Russo, Jose Zuniga, Eduardo Yanez, Antoni Corone, Frances Fisher, Teddy Bergman. Box Office: $33.1M (US)/$113 .3M (World)
Rating: ***
I initially disliked Striptease, a comedy-drama-crime thriller starring Demi Moore (Ghost) as a stripper embroiled in corrupt politics and a child custody fight with her scumbag ex-husband. Like everybody else that summer, I dismissed it as a misfire from writer-director Andrew Bergman (The In-Laws, The Freshman). I said that the movie had no idea what it wanted to be. By turns, it aspires to be a racy adult comedy, a drama about a mother trying to regain custody of her young daughter and a violent Elmore Leonard-like crime thriller involving ruthless “businessmen” and a sleazy politician. I said, at the time, Striptease simply didn’t work. It’s a mess. Its identity crisis is likely the key reason it bombed at the box office. It took home six Razzies that year including Worst Picture, Actress and Director.
A lot of things seem better in hindsight. Striptease is one those things. Separated from all the negative hype at the time of its release, it’s actually a rather enjoyable movie. Besides, Moore looks smoking HOT in this movie. I had the poster on my bedroom wall for years.
Erin Grant (Moore) takes a job as an exotic dancer at The Eager Beaver (snicker, snicker) in Miami after losing her job as an FBI secretary courtesy of her criminal ex-husband Darrell (Patrick, Terminator 2: Judgment Day) who’s also been awarded custody of their young daughter Angela (Demi’s real life daughter Rumer) based on a stupid decision by a stupid judge. She only takes the job to raise the necessary funds to appeal the decision.
It’s at the strip club that Erin first encounters Congressman David Dilbeck (Reynolds, The Cannonball Run) who becomes instantly infatuated with her. Another patron at the club (Hill, Gran Torino), also infatuated, tells Erin that he may be able to help her with her custody case. It seems that he has something on Dilbeck. He turns up dead in a lake outside a cabin where homicide detective Lt. Garcia (Assante, Judge Dredd) is vacationing with his family. His investigation takes him right to the Eager Beaver and Erin who he soon realizes is a mere pawn in a dangerous game. Her sole interest is getting her daughter away from her no-good father. Dilbeck wants Erin to become his lover. His associates want her gone…. permanently. What’s a girl to do?
Tonally, Striptease is all over the map, but I think it’s best taken seriocomically. Some of it is funny, like Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction) as club bouncer Shad. Imposing in size but soft at heart, he gets off some of the movie’s best lines such as when he identifies himself as “George Bush” to a pair of Dilbeck’s aide’s (Guilfoyle, CSI) henchmen. Reynolds’ performance is an interesting one. I know his character is supposed to be funny. Most of the time, he does come off as a buffoon. Other times, he’s creepy. He becomes so obsessed with Erin that he has an assistant (Stanton, Mercury Rising) obtain a personal item which turns out to be dryer lint from the local laundromat. What he does with it is just weird. Patrick’s character is a complete dirtbag. Here’s a guy that not only makes a living stealing wheelchairs from hospitals, he also makes Angela his unwitting accomplice. He also moves around a lot so Erin can’t find out where he lives. Yep, a real Father of the Year! He’s also incredibly stupid which should make him extremely dangerous but instead neutralizes any threat he may pose. He’s a strange character but that’s par for the course in a movie as strange as Striptease.
Moore plays her character completely straight which actually kind of works. She’s like an oasis of intelligence in a sea of stupidity. You can tell that she really prepared for this role. Her body looks amazing; her routines are sexy and well-choreographed. As for young Rumer, that kid is her mother’s Mini-Me. She has natural talent.
Striptease isn’t all fun and games. Lt. Garcia is investigating a pair of related murders obviously carried out to ensure Dilbeck’s reelection. It’s no mystery who did it either. It feels somewhat out of place in an alleged comedy. I hear that the novel by Carl Hiaasen handles it much better. There’s a lot wrong with Striptease, but for some reason, it still works…. sort of. It’s a step down in quality for Bergman who’s done great work in the past. I like So Fine, his largely forgotten 1981 screwball comedy starring Ryan O’Neal as the inventor of a new kind of designer jeans. He never really finds the right tone for the movie. I do like how he takes us right into the sleazy trailer park culture in Florida.
The soundtrack, with cuts by Annie Lennox (“Missionary Man”), The Spencer Davis Group (“Gimme Some Lovin’”), Joan Jett (“I Hate Myself for Loving You”) and Prince (“If I Was Your Girlfriend”), is quite good. If you can get past its narrative and tonal issues, you might actually enjoy Striptease. Then again, maybe not. It’s one of those guilty pleasure flicks that only a select few like. Even fewer will actually admit to the fact. In my not-so-humble opinion, I think it’s entertaining. And Demi…. HOT DAMN!
