Dancing at the Blue Iguana (2001)

This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

I love this movie. I lived this life and there is no movie out there that gives a more accurate glimpse of this than Dancing at the Blue Iguana. Every character was a girl I knew, a girl I was, a girl I danced with, and partied with. Every DJ, club owner/manager, customer.. everything was very well played. I even heard most of it was improv! I don't want to say anymore because I don't want to spoil it, but it really is a true, raw reflection of what the stripper life is like. This film brought back some bitter sweet memories. Every one who has been in this life needs to see it, and anyone who is curious about this life needs to see it. You will not find a more honest film than this. Thank you!

A group of dancers at a gentleman's club has to deal with personal issues when not performing. This movie is supposedly based on improvisations by the actresses and it shows. There isn't much of a plot and the story wanders all over the place. There is a plot line about a Russian contract killer that seems to have been spliced in from another movie altogether. The characters are mostly stereotypes and uninteresting. There are some funny scenes, such as Oh visiting Hannah's apartment and talking about rats in the air conditioning, but otherwise it's too long and dull, despite the flesh parade. A far more interesting film set in a strip club is Atom Egoyan's "Exotica."

I found this a strange film to watch for the first time, as the principal characters all gave me the impression that I was watching a social documentary showing the real lives of real strippers, even though I knew these characters were being played by half a dozen well known actresses who had presumably learned to strip just for this film. I was expecting a fictional story which involved them all to develop, but this never happened. Ultimately this mystery was partly solved in the final credit sequences which explain that the film's characters were developed during a series of "improvisational workshops" in which all the principal members of the cast participated. (I understand that the DVD includes additional extras which usefully expand these explanations, but I have not seen these.) This unusual, but in my opinion largely successful, approach has generated a great deal of controversy among the users of IMDb as fifty comments on this film, ranging from highly enthusiastic to extremely critical, have so far been posted. Viewer ratings are widely spread through the whole range from 1 to 10, and show that the film is most highly regarded by young women whilst it has least appeal for young men. I am not clear whether the cast were assembled for the first such workshop in time to contribute to the decision to locate most of the action for this film in a Los Angeles strip club. There have been many films such as "Steamed" or "First Wives Club" that largely comprise dialogue between a group of women; usually with the link that they all attended the same school or college at some time in the past, and clearly almost any venue where women characteristically meet together could be used for a film of this type. If this decision was made by the film's promoters before the cast list was assembled, it would be interesting to know the reason for it - the average age of a successful actress is very different from that of the typical pulchritudinous 18 to 25 year olds who most frequently perform in these clubs. Another problem is that all the principal characters are, for obvious dramatic reasons, shown as somewhat dysfunctional. In practice I am sure that many of the performers in strip clubs are perfectly normal, if somewhat uninhibited, local housewives who find that an occasional session 'at the club' provides an easy way for them to keep fit which not only saves the costs of belonging to a health club but in addition enables them to make a little money through part time earnings. Since the operator of the Blue Iguana is shown as a somewhat unpleasant character this singularity is easily explained, but the film might have been more credible if it had been planned as a true documentary rather than a pseudo documentary. If on the other hand the strip club venue was selected by the chosen cast at their first workshop we can have much more fun considering why this was their choice. I recall a comment by one reviewer after seeing the film "Striptease' that Demi Moore made stripping seem like an Olympic sport. A psychologist might tell us that most women have the occasional urge to flaunt their charms in this rather blatant way but are held back by propriety, and so an opportunity to do so in the guise of another character would be very appealing; a casting director might point out that a successful role in such a part could provide cast members with a career plus which would significantly increase the probability of landing other very rewarding parts in the future; a health consultant might simply comment that playing such a physically demanding role would clearly be very beneficial to any actress whose recent work had left her a little jaded; a marketing consultant might comment that any film featuring strippers can be counted on to generate a lot of interest; and a gossip columnist might unkindly associate this choice of part with an attempt to recover lost youth. We can easily postulate several other possible motives for the choice - my point here is simply to note that a film structured to provide so much food for thought is challenging enough to have the potential to be a very good film, whether it finally succeeds is a matter of individual judgement.What is the viewer left with after watching this film? Certainly some exceptionally well rounded characters very competently played by the cast member concerned. On this basis I would rate the film as worth 7 on a 10 point scale, although with less competent acting there might not have been enough 'meat' to warrant a rating of more than 3. Full marks to the cast and Director for creating a number of quite memorable cameos (it would be unfair to single out any individual cast members for special mention although naturally some of the parts are much stronger than others). These cameos make it a rewarding film to watch, and it deserves to have been much more successful than it was. The main weakness is its lack of a coherent storyline and its very inconclusive ending, although I personally believe that both these could have been made much less significant by more effective work on the cutting room floor.One warning - this film is certainly not a celluloid version of strip club entertainment in the way that, for example, 'Mondo Topless' was. Those whose primarily interest is in the venue should visit a real club and not watch this film. Although it shows plenty of nudity (which often appears rather self-conscious as camera angles almost always limit it to toplessness), and the dancing is extremely well portrayed; this is not presented in the progressive and provocative way that regular visitors to such clubs would probably expect.

SPOILERS THROUGHOUT:Dancing At The Blue Iguana is a beautiful melancholy gem of a film. It is a character study of several strippers and what their lives are like both at and outside of, the club. It stars Dary Hanna, Sandra Oh and Jennifer Tilly among others and they all give performances that are haunting, heartfelt and just fantastic. Not only was I very impressed with this movie, I thought it was excellent.Anyone expecting a variation on the movie "Striptease" maybe disappointed. This is a serious movie and while of coarse there are scenes where the girls strip, it's more about what happens in between that time when night falls and dawn breaks, and reality and the day to day struggles of life take over. It is slow moving, pensive and above all human. This movie has more humility in it's first 15 minutes then a movie like Striptease or Showgirls has through the whole thing. It's without a doubt, one of the best character studies I've ever seen.On occasion, when traveling through movie land, there are those occasional movies, (usually indie films though not always) , where you encounter movies that are less concerned with heavy handed theatrics and special effects, and much more interested in bringing you a dose of reality. I found Blue Iguana to be a wonderful haunting tale of life, love, loneliness, pain, and dreams. The whole cast was incredible and nothing, not one thing, ever feels forced. There are moments of surprising comedy such as an unforgettable moment between Hanna's "Angel" and a police officer. The movie is done in rather a fragmented way, there is a constant switching around from one story to the next but I found that appropriate to the movie.I liked, very much how all the girls played their roles, I did have a fondness for Angel, a sweet yet incredibly problematic girl, and Sandra Oh's Jasmine had the best scene in the movie, her "goodbye" dance to her new boyfriend who had not yet seen her dance, was incredibly powerful and flawless, as was the song selection. All performances were great.This is a must see for anyone who likes character studies and likes ones where the makers "keep it real." The only complaint that I have is the rather strange way it ended(and that it ended in two hours-it actually should have been longer) and the subplot involving the contract killer which I cannot decide if I liked or not especially since I still don't fully understand it in it's entirety but other then that, I have no negatives at all. This isn't for everyone, it's slow moving nature may turn some people off, but for those who do like these type of movies, I've no doubt you'll find it an exceptional film. My vote is 9 of 10.