Boring

Better Late Then Never

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

In the old days, movies about strippers were harrowing tales involving serial killers and they were little more than blood & guts slasher movies which totally defeated their reason d'entre. Fortunately we have evolved past Roger Corman. It is noticed that there remains a murder plot in DANCING AT THE BLUE IGUANA with the Russian hit man, but it is at least not directed at the girls. I am one of the few people in the world who isn't negative about SHOWGIRLS, perhaps in part because it was such an improvement on the usual inane fare when it came to dealing with the subject matter, but in this one, there is a minimum of violence. So this is refreshing in that way. More real. It is filled with flaws, but the positives far, far outweigh the negatives.I thought I was still watching, then realized as those two guys walked off this is gonna be the end of the movie. Shucks, no, man! You can't do this to us! It's like a first-part with no second-part! There's no resolution to the story!Had I been a director, I'd never have gone for improv, I'd have insisted on a script. I'd have allowed improv if they came up with gems. In loads of places in this movie, like the bit about the rats, about Angel 'not being that big in real life' and not have inhaled, Jo's "of course I'm not keeping it, it's disgusting!", Jo's abortion clinic scene, and several others, were gems, but then again, loads of other stretches needed to be weeded out. But please note that I'm not knocking this movie. I am simply saying that the finished product needed some sprucing up. Okay, lots of sprucing up. And damn it, more resolution in the ending.I am of course just raring to have a say about the actresses:First off, Daryl Hannah. I've noticed criticism by some of the first-page reviewers thrown her way. Stuff like one of them wished she had a script. Hell. With her long legs, and her cat-like abilities, and her soft-spoken ways, Daryl is an absolute treat as Angel. She was made for the part. Can anyone be so agile sixteen years after having first wowed audiences? Daryl Hannah in high heels, bare-legged and mostly undressed, all tearful, in the parking area scenes are just heartbreakingly beautiful! Hey, reviewers, please note that Daryl played the part of this charmingly naive Angel and gave a charmingly naive portrayal. She was so utterly vulnerable in the scene with the policeman. There are people who aren't really equipped to deal with the realities of the mean old world out there, and Daryl played it to perfection.Second, Charlotte Ayanna. The newcomer. Does a wonderfully charming (and intoxicatingly alluring) Jessie. Pretty little body. Brings out all the protective urges. Dreamgirl. How anybody could slap her around...! But of course there are people like that in the world. Charlotte, good work. You should just have been in loads of great movies besides this one. Instead of that full- of-himself Ricky Martin music video.Third, Sheila Kelly as Stormy. She has a presence! Wow, does she ever have a presence! Grabs your attention the moment the camera comes her way. Stormy deserves a movie of her own. I'd have bought the DVD.And then there is Jennifer Tilly. Hard to believe this is the same girl as the sad character in THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS, equally hard to believe that she was that young woman in BOUND. This is a versatile actress, people!I did not find Sandra Oh to be as great as the scores of other reviewers who think the world of her. I do not nearly think that she 'is a truckload of Kleenex all by herself'. The character, yes, the situation, yes, but for the most part, her portrayal fell flat. I would have said that Daryl's Angel was the true truckload of Kleenex.By the way, IMDb, really, 'an unglamorous look at strippers'? Not how I'd have put it. Makes it sound all wrong. Plenty of glamor in this movie, with the girls themselves. It is their doomed lifestyles that present the negative side, but the movie itself is filled with eye candy. Since you won't lure people into the cinema or towards buying the DVD by saying 'an unglamorous look at strippers' let me just point out that there is an a-b-u-n-d-a-n-c-e of fine flesh + lovely, lovely girls + celebrity skin (and a whole lot of sad stuff that makes it really deep!) But there's a lot of Showgirls in this one too! Yay to that!Review brought to you by RavenGlamDVDCollector who thinks its cool that the picture is sensitive enough to be mistaken for a chick flick. But let's do celebrate the beauty of the female of the species. That's why I bought DANCING AT THE BLUE IGUANA. After downloading the trailer on VuClip, because the plot on Wikipedia sounded fraught with totally depressing stuff.I've kept quiet about one thing. Most of the breasts in the movie are surgically enhanced. Not so Daryl Hannah's. Hell, to that Board Post entry about 'wearing out a VHS tape watching Kristin Bauer's scene'... How foolish to salivate over that! How totally off-putting! But, if I could've woken up alongside an Angel lookalike tomorrow morning... Sigh.

A gritty and harsh view of the Stripper's world. A lot of which was taken from screen siren Daryl Hannah's quirky and informative documentary "Stripnotes". The characters are all well developed and easy to relate and symapthise with,the most commendable performances laying with lesbian icon Jennifer Tilly, currently popular Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy) and last but not the least the leggy talent showered bombshell that is queen Daryl Hannah of the movie screen. The style and settings of the movie add much to its overall feel and are able to involve the viewer in the reality that is the sleazy but somewhat enchanting stripbar. The dancers,the costumes,the poles,the punters,the drinks,the smokes,the fun,the tears,the hardship,the routine. It'll have you whirling round lamposts like a hulla hoop on crack. A MUST SEE! 10/10!

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.

I had rented the film twice in two years and decided to buy it about a month after I rented it the second time. At first I rented it because I have always been fascinated w/that side of life. I had seen Showgirls before, and I found Blue Iguana to be much more tasteful. There is no total nudity and the director says why in the commentary. Blue Iguana is also much more realistic than Showgirls. There is no such thing as if you do REALLY good as a stripper, someone may discover you and give you an audition for a more prestigious dancing job. They don't give lap dances to beautiful clientèle. The strippers in B.I. never wake up & suddenly realize that they live in a toxic world. The VIP dancer is not a "star' offstage, she's what the regular's lives could degenerate into. When I finally bought the DVD for myself, I did not expect to become so involved in the special features. First there is a documentary that Daryl Hannah did about her research at a strip club. (Side note: The documentary & commentaries really made me want to learn how to pole dance. It takes so much muscular strength to do those moves that anyone who was decent at it had a body to die for i.e. Simone in the documentary & Daryl Hannah.) Then, there are two commentaries -- a more poignant, almost poetic commentary by the films director. And another commentary by three of the films actors. Because the film was based on improvisations and the improvisations were based on the intense research the actors and the director did, they were able to comment about what drove these women or what caused these women to have stagnant lives and either not do anything they set out to do or leave everything half finished. I found myself identifying w/ about half of their comments and really wanting to do something about it. Aside from the commentaries, I really enjoyed the film. They managed to put some humor in the film -- via Daryl Hannah's character and sometimes Jennifer Tilly. Sandra Oh is just magnificent. The emotion & facial expression she managed to put in her "good-bye" dance is just awesome.