Striptease (1996)

Director:

Andrew Bergman

Writers (WGA):

Carl Hiaasen (book)
Andrew Bergman (screenplay)

Release Date:

28 June 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Some People Get Into Trouble No Matter What They WEAR.

Plot:

A stripper and single mother gets dragged into a dangerous situation after a congressman takes a fancy to her.

Plot Keywords:

Congressman | Custody | Single Mother | Stripper | Ex Husband

Awards:

6 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Demi Moore	...	Erin Grant
Burt Reynolds	...	Congressman David Dilbeck
Armand Assante	...	Lt. Al Garcia
Ving Rhames	...	Shad
Robert Patrick	...	Darrell Grant
Paul Guilfoyle	...	Malcolm Moldovsky
Jerry Grayson	...	Orly
Rumer Willis	...	Angela Grant
Robert Stanton	...	Erb Crandal
William Hill	...	Jerry Killian
Stuart Pankin	...	Alan Mordecai
Dina Waters	...	Monique, Jr. (as Dina Spybey)
PaSean Wilson	...	Sabrina Hepburn
Pandora Peaks	...	Urbanna Sprawl
Barbara Alyn Woods	...	Lorelei

MPAA:

Rated R for nudity, erotic dancing and language.

Runtime:

115 min | USA:117 min (unrated version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Sweden:11 | South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) (also unrated version) | Canada:AA (Ontario) (also unrated version) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) (also unrated version) | Finland:K-11 | Germany:12 (w) | Iceland:16 | Italy:T | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:M18 | Spain:13 | UK:15 | USA:R (original rating) | USA:Unrated (video rating) (special edition)

Filming Locations:

Clewiston, Florida, USA

Company:

Castle Rock Entertainment

Trivia:

The book that Pierre (Anthony Jones), the limousine driver, is reading at 1:24:55 while waiting for Demi Moore to show up for her second dance on the Senator's boat is Vol. 9 of Mission Earth: "Villainy Victorious", by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: About 41 minutes in there is a shot of a limo driving by with a visible camera attached to the bottom.

Quotes:

Alan Mordecai: Do you follow politics, Mr. Shad?
Shad: Do I look like I follow politics?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mad About You: Outbreak (#5.7)" (1996)

Soundtrack:

Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead

Good or bad? Funny or ridiculous? Misunderstood satirical masterpiece or...

...the flop that deserves six of its Razzies and the nomination for Worst Picture of the Decade?

I think, "Striptease" (1996) directed by Andrew Bergman based on the book by Carl Hiaasen, is all of the above - a curious mixture of laughs, satire, absurdism, darkness, silliness, and over-seriousness. The latter comes from Demi Moore who plays Erin Grant, the FBI secretary - losing her job and the custody over her daughter to no good small time crook wheelchairs stealing husband (Robert Patrick looking and acting like a stoned, redneck version of Gary Oldman) and who takes a job as an exotic dancer in the local club "Eager Beaver" to earn money for her court appeal. In the club she becomes the hottest attraction and meets many...interesting characters, the most colorful being, of course Congressman David Dilbeck (Burt Reynolds) who "just loves naked women. It's a character flaw" and who is absolutely smitten by Erin. Erin also makes friends with a club bouncer, Shad (Ving Rhames) who is perhaps the best thing in the movie - clever, sharp, sarcastic, with the great sense of humor. One scene where Shad tells to Dilbeck's bodyguards that Meryl Streep used to work in "Eager Beaver" as an exotic dancer and they seem to believe him is brilliant. If only everything had been as good as he was we would've had a really great movie. What do we have now? Well, Demi Moore looks really good with the minimum clothes on. I mean, the woman was a 33 year old mother of three at the time and her body was marvel to behold. I just think that she was too serious, intense, and solemn doing the striptease numbers – after all it is not only strip it is tease, too. It goes to her acting in the movie in general. Reynolds seemed to have a lot of fun with his sleazy drunk Congressman David Dilbeck, election-day choice of Christian groups and a lot of laughs comes from his mannerism and quotes. There are plenty of laughs, actually, in "Striptease" but quite often they seem like the wrong and unintentional type for the movie material.

Who had the best laugh? I'd guess, Demi Moore did after been paid $12.5 million – one of the highest paychecks for an actress back then.