A lot of fun.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

My sister was supposed to be in this. They cut her scene. They should have left it all on the cutting room floor. Nothing to see here. No substance. No class. I was embarrassed to watch it.Terribly demeaning to women. Couldn't even watch it through. Watch ANYTHING else. Anything else!

Fighting for something that means the world to you is everything. For Erin Grant(Demi Moore), her daughter is her world. She loses her job as a FBI secretary because her ex-husband(Robert Patrick) is working. However, her ex-husband is a criminal, and his daughter is being lied to keep her away. In order to get her back, Erin would stoop to work at a strip club. During the time, a Congressman(Burt Reynolds) catches his eye on Erin and takes a high interest in her. Another patron at the club wants to help Erin get her daughter back. But he knows what kind of a person the congressman is, and is later killed. Erin does get her daughter back, since the judge who remanded to the ex died of natural causes, she couldn't wait months to get her back, and the ex is very negligent. When Shad(Ving Rhames) the bouncer hears about all this, he would jump into action to make sure that she gets her daughter back. This movie is raw and highly impactive. Good star quality. Demi Moore does her character well. Her dancing and strip skills are top notch. Her daughter Rumer is very nice in her role. At the mother/daughter remain intact. It was a fine movie. It's not for everyone. Something to satisfy the urge. 3 out of 5 stars.

While this movie was pretty known in the 1990s, for being one of the several movies where Demi Moore appears topless, it's probably more memorable, today for having been panned by the critics and winning several Razzie Awards, including "Worst Picture of 1996" than anything else. After all, not a lot of Millennials, might know, who Demi Moore is, since she pretty much, barely acts, these days. Directed, produced, and written by Andrew Bergman, Striptease tells the story of Erin Grant (Demi Moore), former FBI secretary/single mother who has turned to stripping to earn enough money to gain legal custody of her young daughter, Angela (Rumer Willis), while also finding herself, matching wits with a lustful United States Congressman, David Dillbeck (Burt Reynolds), and his powerful corporate backer, Malcolm Moldowsky (Paul Guilfoyle) in order to get her job back with the FBI. Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, the movie is somewhat directionless. It doesn't know, if it wants to be, a political thriller, or a sex comedy. There were a lot of pointless scenes that really goes, nowhere that weren't exciting, nor funny. If that wasn't bad, enough, the plot for this movie doesn't make much logic in real-world sense. Honestly, what type of a judge, allows a criminal with a record, visitation rights, much less sole custody, because the other one is a stripper? I get that, the book explains it by saying that the local cops buried Erin's ex-husband, Darrell (Robert Patrick)'s record when he agreed to be an informant, however, that probably wouldn't happen in real life as well. I have to say, there is a huge difference, between the film version of 'Striptease' and the 1993 novel of the same name, by Carl Hiaasen, as well, despite some critics, playing the screenplay is pretty faithful to the book, which it is not. One of the biggest difference is that, the environmental message has been left out. There is little to no mention of the subplot about the plutocracy of sugar growers in Florida, and the exorbitant subsidies regularly granted to them by the U.S. Congress. Another big change that the film did, is how a lot of supporting characters of the novels were either demoted to nameless cameos, or cut from the film, all together. A good example of this, is the character, Joyce Mizner, who played, a semi big part, as the fiancée of the man, Dilbeck attacks, but as of my knowledge, doesn't appear in the film. Honestly, whatever, did happen to her? Another change from the novel, is what happen to Erin's ex-husband, Darrell toward the end. I get that, there were concerns that the ending of the film, being too dark, not comical enough; but all of these rewrites and reshoots, did nothing, but cause delays & make the ending, somewhat anticlimax. It wasn't good. I get that, audience didn't want, Burt Reynolds to be, a violent villain, but how can, Reynolds show that he is a good actor, if he only plays over the top comical characters. It really does limited his acting range and somewhat typecast him. Because of that, I really couldn't get behind, this cartoony Congressman character, at all. It was really, nothing new from the actor. Not only that, but his character does a lot of annoying, and somewhat too gross & pervy things, I really didn't want to see. All of the jokes, with him, really does fall flat. It was a little too, much for me to take, much like Robert Patrick's character, who I also easily equally dislike. Honestly, if there was one character, that I somewhat like, from this film, it has to be the bouncer, Shad (Ving Rhames). While Ving Rhames's acting is mediocre, at best, with his stone-cold expression. At least, he's one of the only actors in the film, that didn't make a fool of themselves, along with the other, being Paul Guilfoyle & Armand Assante as FBI agent, Al Garcia. Then, there is Demi Moore, whom dour acting in this, is mostly meh. It's just so jarring and awkward to see, her single-parent plot, be, taken so serious, compare everything else. It felt like too different types of movies, here, being mixed together. Maybe, if she had more flair, it could had help the movie, but it really wouldn't matter. Her character was so badly written, so I can't say, she's the worst thing about this film, because she's clearly not. Her sex appeal is the only one that keeps this movie from falling apart and somewhat marketable. Still, Demi Moore kinda ruin movie's much-advertised nudity and eroticism, by promoting this film, looking like a masculine butch than a femme woman. I get that, she was filming 1997's 'G.I Jane' at the time. However, her muscle bound frame and bald head were really distracting, and made people, more interested in finding out, what 'G.I Jane' was about, than what 'Striptease' was telling us. No wonder, why this movie failed at the box office. It also didn't help that this film was association with the previous year's film about nude dancers, 1995's 'Showgirls'. Both films were highly criticize, for its sleazy premise, and because of that, some critics were a little too judgmental on the subject matter. In my opinion, I don't think the movie is the worst. The stripteases sequence are choreographed to present the strippers as seasoned pros, indifferent to their nudity and disdainful of their customers. However, due to the awkward humor and somewhat unlikeable characters. I can somewhat agree. This film is not good. It's a movie in limbo.

I have enjoyed this movie ever since I first viewed it. And the main reason is Demi Moore. She has obviously done her homework and her dancing is quite literally, stunning. She is truly superb as one of the sleazy nightclub pole dancers and I appreciate an actor who has taken the time to experience the real thing and then gets it spot on when required. Some of the support cast leave things to be desired. Moore's estranged husband is not the best drunk/drugged I've ever seen and Bert Reynolds portrayal of the congressman couldn't have been more hammed up if the producers had tried. Demi learned to dance like an exotic dancer for this film and after just having a baby at the time, she looks great.And even with an indifferent script, Moore holds it all together so as not to allow these annoyances to ruin this otherwise enjoyable comedy/drama.The story was hugely predictable, and the acting was pretty bad, but this movie was really funny. There were some great one-liners. If you are a fan of Demi Moore, then you will recall her dancing to two terrific Lennox tunes, "Money Can't Buy It" and "Little Bird." These tunes marked the clear highlight of the film, but mysteriously are missing here, along with another haunting Lennox song titled "Cold" which can be found on the album Diva along with the other two missing songs. Overall, a pretty good movie with Moore's "chair dance" being one of the most sensual acts I have seen in a long time! Overall rating: 7 out of 10.