This is How Movies Should Be Made

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This movie is like a precursor to the HBO series "Sex and the City", except it's less cutesy, less melodramatic and not at all obsessed with puns. If you'd like to see what Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte looked and sounded like about a step earlier on the evolutionary scale, you'll find it in Live Nude Girls.Less a story and more an extended monologue on women, sex and relationships that's been split between 6 different characters, this film is about the night some old friends have a bachelorette party sleepover. I don't know if a group of women all pushing up against 40 getting together for a slumber party was considered normal in Los Angeles in 1995 but it's the nail this story is hung on, so you've just got to go with it. Georgina (Lora Zane) is a confused bisexual who's thinking of switching back to men. Jill (Dana Delaney) is the raunchy one with the happy marriage that's never really talked about. Rachel (Laila Robins) is Jill's uptight sister who's staring down spinsterhood. Marcy (Cynthia Stevenson) is the awkward one who ends up banging her house painter, who then starts stalking her. Jaime (Kim Cattral) is the neurotic B-movie actress who's freaking out about her impending third wedding. Chris (Olivia D'Abo) is Georgina's current girlfriend and one of the least convincing lesbians in cinema history. A cross-dressing Benny Hill would have been more believable.The entire film is essentially these 6 women sitting around and talking about sex, with occasional cutaways for flashbacks and fantasies, with undercurrents of Georgina's sexual indecision, Jill and Rachel sniping at each other, Jaime's overwrought case of cold feet and a couple of secrets that, of course, end up blurted out before the night is over. There's also a decent amount of female nudity, an embarrassingly bad gay stereotype and a weirdly sympathetic view of men for this sort of film. Nothing in this story ever gets resolved or figured out or fixed. The movie just starts and these women yap away until it's over.If you want to watch women yapping about sex and relationships, you'll probably enjoy Live Nude Girls. If watching "Sex and the City" feels like someone is trying to suck your brain out through your nose, you probably won't like this movie. There's nothing wrong or bad about it, but it's entirely one of those things you either really like or you really don't. You're going to have to make that call yourself.

I bought this DVD because it featured Dana Delaney and Kim Cattrall, both of whom appeared in 'Masquerade'. I knew the film would not be as raunchy as the title would suggest. I suppose that I had a bit of male curiosity about how women act when men are not around. With the film being written and directed by a woman, I expected that the depicted female behavior would reflect reality.Well, the women here are all unhappy with their lives to varying degree. All the characters reflect on their life choices and wish they had made wiser decisions at various points. These women have known each other since childhood, so they cannot easily avoid unpleasant truths about their lives. As the alcohol flows, inhibitions fall and the characters start to frankly discuss subjects they have never felt free to discuss with anyone else.Of these women, Jill (Dana Delaney) seems the most functional. She is not thrilled with her marriage and has just discovered that she is again pregnant. Still, her marriage seems stable and bearable and she is not looking for an exit from the relationship. With some work with her husband, she could probably have a very fulfilling marriage.Jamie (Kim Cattrall) is a modestly successful actress and emotional wreck. She has had two failed marriages and is having a near emotional breakdown on the eve of her third marriage. The characters of her previous husbands are not discussed, but they probably were show business types. Here, she is going for the unglamorous choice in an accountant. Kim did so well in this role because it probably hit so close to home for a woman in show business. Still, Jamie is relieved and delighted to learn that her fiancée's bachelor party was a dull and pedestrian affair and nothing threatening to her relationship went on. With this reassurance, Jamie is eager to plunge into another marriage.The host for the slumber party Georgina (Lora Zane) is having the greatest crisis. She is growing increasingly tired of and dissatisfied with her lesbian lover Chris (Olivia D'Abo). Georgina is bisexual and having increasing pangs about having a baby. She is a chef who is feeling an increasing attraction to one of her male co-workers. I suspect that Georgina turned to a lesbian relationship when she got hurt in a conventional love affair. Still, she is finding it difficult to endure a relationship overflowing with estrogen.Chris (Olivia D'Abo) is emotionally so insecure and needy that Georgina is being sucked dry trying to deal with her. Chris apparently has no job and is solely supported by her lover. All Chris wants to do is hang around the house and have sex with Georgina. Chris can feel the growing discontent and is anxious about loosing her relationship and having to earn her own living again. After living with Chris for a while, men are starting to look much more appealing to Georgina.The film ends with the drunken women frolicking nude in a swimming pool and little apparent change in any of their lives. This reflects how life mostly involves constant repetition of established patterns of behavior. The film has the courage to end on this realistic note rather than some incredible epiphany of awareness and radical change of course. None of us mortals lead totally fulfilled lives. Rather we all struggle to survive life's challenges as best we can. Kudos to the writer/director for having the courage to present this reality.

I remember liking this movie when it came out, and thinking what an odd and somewhat misleading title (just ask for it at Blockbuster and watch the funny looks they give you). Except for the great and recognizable cast when looking at the box, one would expect a more prurient, less substantive, late-night cable skin flick from a movie so titled. But the title though is appropriate as the movie is about friends, behaving like the "girls" of their childhood, sharing laughs, gossiping, and candidly baring their psyches at a bachelorette party. It is interesting, funny, sexy, and even innovative (like, it was a good idea to do an entire film focused on women just conversing candidly -and the viewer is an eavesdropper). Having just seen the newly released DVD version, it occurred to me how reminiscent the dialogue and style is to Sex in the City, which started its run several years after this movie. It is not a great and serious film work, but it is good, interesting, well-made, and may be a good conversation starter.

"Live Nude Girls" appears to have been the blueprint for 'Sex in the City".This extremly funny movie was never released in theatres as apparently it was considered to sexually frank for 1995.My how times have changed, with the subsiquent succses of the above mentioned show its high time this brillantly acted,written and directed film got the attention it deserves.Career best performences are put in by most every actress in the film.Discussing the film in detail would rob the viewer of the suprises that help make the film such a treat.I strongly recommend the film to any and all.