Cheap The Center of the World (DVD) (Shane Edelman, Molly Parker, Balthazar Getty) (Wayne Wang) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Center of the World

The plot centers around a rich tech-geek who hires a stripper to go with him to Las Vegas. During the trip, sex mixes with (maybe) love and eventually all hell breaks lose with each side realizing what they really are.

There are plenty of reasons to view this movie. The characters are very complex, with truly subtle perfomances given by all involved. The story also is engaging with enough twists to keep one puzzled. This is a sexual film that is the complete opposite of "Showgirls." It is a view of the sex industry with both it's appeal and its horrible toll of the minds of its partisipants. You will real want to discuss this film.

So far, it sounds like a five star movie, but it isn't. The lowbudgetness of the movie makes the sex scenes look like porn, which actually draws the audiance out of the emotions Wang is looking for. It also is a movie that becomes increasingly vulgar to melodramatic effect, so as to almost parody itself at times.

It appears that there were two sides to Director Wayne Wang on this piece.

Director Wayne made a profound study of the sex industry.

Director WANG made a cheap vulgar porno.

It's too bad that they're the same movie.

Reality check.
Touted as the modern "Last Tango in Paris", a movie I neither understood nor enjoyed, this unrated film still caught my eye. I was intrigued enough by the plot synopsis of "Center of the World" - computer geek hires stripper for a $10k paid trip to Vegas. The strip related scenes were tasteful and focused on the psychology more than the detailed physiology. The stripper was very real, no Pam Anderson look alike. These two elements made the entire film more inviting to me. A film that provoked some thought and discussion. Money and sex -- when the power changes hands? What is the gender difference between love and sex? When does a man think of a woman's pleasure? Sexual deviance, over sexed desensitization, when does a man say "no"? What will become of the guy who watches 3 computer screens at work - work, stocks, and ..., and yet has no time to have a normal social life? This film also dares to show the most real woman's ... -- about time! Films truly do give us impressions about what sex is supposed to be like, and hello - most films are directed by men - so how often do we actually see a realistic female ... and not some male interpretive fantasy?

Exploring the boundaries between reality and fantasy
Think the premise of "Pretty Woman," but more firmly grounded in the real world, and you might get close to what "The Center of the World" is all about. This film abandons the glamourized Hollywood notions of sex workers, and doesn't engage in the pat, happy ending that we saw in "Pretty Woman"... and it is a far better film for it. Furthermore, Molly Parker is far more exotically lovely than Julia Roberts could even hope to be, and a better actress to boot.

In short, if you're looking for a romantic escapist fantasy about a sex worker redeemed by the love of a good man, look elsewhere -- this film is far more complex than that.

Comparisons to "Pretty Woman" do seem inevitable however, to the point that I wonder if the director and writers weren't crafting this film as a direct response to that one, a way of saying, "Whoa boy, reality check!" The premise is familiar at least. Richard (Peter Saarsgard) is wealthy but lonely after a breakup with his girlfriend two years before. He meets Florence (Molly Parker) in a coffee shop and finds out that she is a stripper. He visits her at the strip club where she works (nicely named Pandora's Box), and is so intrigued by her that he offers her $10,000 to spend three days with him in Las Vegas. She agrees, with a number of strict conditions, including limiting the number of hours she is required to "work," and limiting the acts she will perform. "No kissing on the mouth" (sounds familiar, no?) and "no penetration" are among her limitations.

From this familiar territory, though, the film explores new ground. Richard and Florence get to know one another as they spend more time together, and Florence finds out that Richard isn't such a bad guy, just lonely. "Why do you have to be so nice?" she asks him at one point, partially angry and partially not. Richard, in the meantime, is becoming more and more deeply entranced by this woman he has hired, which becomes part of the conflict.

Given the subject of the film, there is of course a great deal of sexuality portrayed in it. It is handled pretty tastefully, and none of it is there for its own sake. It is partially through their sexual relationship that we see the growth and the limitations of the characters' relationship in general. The sex scenes are handsomely shot and are not the typical sort of scenes one might expect from an erotic film; nevertheless (perhaps because they are unique), they are extremely erotic.

The acting is quite good. We spend most of the film only seeing Richard and Florence interacting together, with just a few other characters showing up here and there, but the two lead actors have the chops to sustain the film from beginning to end. Peter Saarsgard plays a "nice guy" well, and it's good to see that he doesn't overplay it at all. He's a very real nice guy, with flaws and points where he stops being nice out of frustration or anger. Molly Parker, as Florence, lends a similar depth to her role. From the first moment you see her you can see why Richard becomes infatuated with her: she is ethereally lovely, with a husky voice that is simply enthralling. But it is her personality that Richard really falls for, and that too is portrayed believably. She is played with a genuine warmth and likeability that is often missing from erotic films, but not overly sweet like "Pretty Woman" and many other Hollywood attempts at a similar story. I suspect that Molly Parker will be a talent to watch carefully in the next few years.

The nature and limitations of the relationship between these two people -- in one sense employer and employee and in another far more intimate than that -- becomes the main subject of the film as it progresses. How much of what Florence is giving to Richard is real, and how much is an act? How does the aspect of money change what happens over that three days? Are his feelings based in reality? Are hers?

Some of these questions are answered at the end, others are left open to the viewer's interpretation. There is nothing about the end, however, that is trite or simple, and as in life, there is a great deal that will depend on the perspective of the person watching the story unfold. This is a film very much grounded in reality, dealing with real people in a realistic (if unique) situation, and in the end it avoids the typical Hollywood fantasy notions that are so common.

Comparisons to "Pretty Woman" may well be inevitable for this film, but in such comparisons "The Center of the World" comes out ahead in every category. It's not a perfect film, but it is an excellent one. It is both sexier and more realistic, and that makes it well worth watching in my book.