Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Excellent but underrated film

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

I usually don't read other reviews before I write my own, but this time I did: bad mistake. So this is more of a protest/review than a regular one. POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT First, the "5.8 out of 10" rating. Good God people, really? Here you have a half-dozen of Hollywood's best actresses doing work THEY formed, researched, polished and performed. I personally feel it is Ms. Hannah, Ms. Oh, Ms. Bauer van Straten and Ms. Tilly's very best work. The story follows a group of exotic dancers through their epically but not abnormally complicated lives. Some of the complications may not be to the liking of softer viewers, but they are treated realistically. But it is the performances of the cast, including great character actor Elias Koteas and Robert Wisdom, who plays the manager, that make this film a classic in its own right. It is really easy to fob this film off as just a movie about strippers. It is so much more many-layered than that. It's sad to read that so few people seem to "get" this film, but I guess their lives were much more protected and distanced from "people like these" (as one reviewer called them) than some of us. Because my personal experience showed me many women just like these - they just never got a movie that showed them truthfully before.

Various women dance at the strip club Blue Iguana. Angel (Daryl Hannah) is desperate to adopt. Jo (Jennifer Tilly) is angry, pregnant and wants an abortion. Jasmine (Sandra Oh) is a poetry writer. Club manager Eddie gets star stripper Nico (Kristin Bauer van Straten). Jessie (Charlotte Ayanna) is the new girl. Stormy (Sheila Kelley) is sleeping with her brother.Michael Radford is no drive-by B-movie director. This does have ambition of something more compelling than a simple T&A showcase. He has gathered various stripper stories together. They're fine but I don't find any of them that compelling. The movie feels scattered. I wonder if somebody who actually stripped like Diablo Cody would have more compelling stories. At least, her writing might be more interesting.

It is amazing what you come across at 2am when you have trouble sleeping. The fact that this film is directed by Michael Radford (Il Postino) is an indication that it might be more than just a T & A film. It is, after all, about pole dancers at a strip club.Yes, it is loaded with T & A. Charlotte Ayanna (Jawbreaker) dances in just a thong. TV regular Kristin Bauer (Everybody Loves Raymond, Just Shhot Me) goes even further. Even at 40, Daryl Hannah shows her stuff and it is hot stuff, indeed. Just a photograph in Mike Myer's hands in So I Married an Axe Murderer, Shiela Kelley practiced at many bikini bars before she showed her stuff here. Even Grey's Anatomy's Sandra Oh gives us her first notable skin scenes. Lastly, Jennifer Tilly is un-Bound, and gives a show to remember.If they gave an Academy Award for this category, it would be Breast Picture, hands down.But, there is more. This is not Showgirls. There is actually a handful of stories going on as we examine the lives off the stage. Sandra Oh gives a super performance. I wasn't too thrill by Daryl Hannah as she acted as if she had an IQ of 30. Jennifer Tilly was just plain impressive and well worth the time.

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.