Lap Dance

This film tells the story of a young woman who enters the world of exotic dancing in order to pay for her father's mounting medical bills. Despite initial agreements with her fiancé, her relationship with her fiancé is severely compromised.

"Lap Dance" is a story of Monica's struggle to make money, but she still gets sucked into the glittery world of hedonism. I find it really strange that the fiancé actually stays in the club often. Isn't it so weird to watch your fiancée strutt it off in a club? Anyway, a lot of thing happen in the story, including fights with other women, jealousy, poor health and relationship problems. It is quite a struggle to keep herself at a distance from the money and attention, and this struggle is portrayed wel. It is interesting film to watch.

The writer/director didn't seem to understand stripper culture, so the movie is inauthentic. The lead actress is TERRIBLE. She seems to have studied strippers to get an 'affect', not realizing that the affect she is trying to emulate is actually the influence of opiates and alcohol. So, about halfway through the movie, she begins acting like she's in a daze and slowing her speech - nothing like a bad actress, being slow about it.

Much like 'How To Plan An Orgy In A Small Town' (2015, also a terrible movie), if you imply sexuality in a title, you have to deliver. This movie doesn't have enough sex and it doesn't have enough nudity - which should have been the whole point of watching.

RealReview Posting Scoring Criteria: Acting - 0.5/1 Casting - 0.5/1 Directing - 1/1 Story - 0.5/1 Writing/Screenplay - 0.5/1

Total Base Score = 3

Modifiers (+ or -) Cinematography: 0.5 (There were a couple lap dances in 'Lap Dance') Believability/Consistency: -0.5

Total RealReview Rating: 3

First of all, why the heck is IMDb giving Briana Evigan, Carmen Electra and Stacey Dash billing over Ali Cobrin? Ali is the star of this movie, followed by Robert Hoffman. Dash is virtually not in it. Maybe she appeared in such a tiny role as a favor to a friend. Evigan and Electra are in it a tad bit more, but not a whole lot.

Anyway, after getting the billing problem out of the way, I'd have to say many parts of this movie are very realistic, such as why Monica decides to take up dancing. I've talked to quite a few dancers some years ago when I was writing a book, and one of my characters was sort of like them. The girls I talked to told me how they started dancing for the most noble of reasons; helping family members with hospital bills, keeping their kids fed and off the streets, etc. "I'll dance for a month until the bills are paid." That month tends to become two and then a year. Many of those girls finally decide to start "tricking" and they get into drugs, and their lives spiral out of control. The movie was also realistic about the deep pitfalls many of those girls go through in their relationships with husbands/boyfriends as their insistence on making more and more money becomes the main priority for them. Without giving away spoilers, I'll say that the ending was not as realistic as the rest of the movie.

The acting was good. Ali Cobrin did a great job in her role. Robert Hoffman was good as her husband, as were the supporting players. The storyline - except for the ending - was believable. I began watching this movie expecting to hate it. I thought it was going to basically be a skin flick with no story. It wasn't, not at all. There is some nudity in it, but not much. Ali Cobrin is completely naked on the bed with a guy, but they go to great lengths not to show anything besides her naked profile and back (no butt in that scene). In another scene, she gets out of bed and walks to the bathroom completely naked showing her butt. In the strip club, some other girls show their breasts. If you're looking for nudity like in Showgirls, forget it.

I gave this a 7-star rating, because - as I said earlier - it's a mostly realistic take on strippers and the pitfalls of that profession. I thought they should have put a bit more grittiness into the film, and the ending could've been done better, but no film's perfect. This was not a film I wanted to see, but it surprised me.

OK, it wasn't that bad - I did feel some level of caring for the characters, especially the main two. From what I know of strip clubs and the girls who work in them, the potential "pitfalls" as presented in this film are but a tiny sugar coated fraction of the real perils, which another reviewer here tells accurately. Anyway, maybe keeping it light is a refreshing change, so much in the real world is so dark anyway. I give it a 5.

Lap Dance (2014) is a movie I recently watched on Tubi. The storyline follows a recently engaged couple who suffer unfortunate circumstances when the bride to be's dad gets cancer. They have to use all their savings on his treatment and become desperate for money. A friend of the bride to be recommends she strips to pay the bills. The couple is hesitant but when desperation calls the wife agrees to do the deed but not to change in the process. Once she gets in the lifestyle she quickly discovers it will chance her and her fiancé both...

This movie is directed by Greg Carter (Lucky Girl) and stars James Remar (The Warriors), Omari Hardwick (Power), Stacey Dash (Clueless), Carmen Electra (Scary Movie), Mariel Hemingway (Superman IV), Briana Evigan (Sorority Row), LisaRaye McCoy (The Players Club) and Lynn Whitfield (Eve's Bayou).

This film had so much potential with a realistic storyline and a worthwhile cast. Unfortunately the execution was mediocre primarily because the husband and wife are miscast but everyone around them is really good. Somehow the director put all his good cast members as supporting characters. The dialogue between the couple feels unnatural even though the circumstances feel real. I will say the strippers are well selected and the storyline unfolds well and the conclusion fit the plot perfectly.

Overall it's too bad this wasn't executed better because this could have been pretty good. I would score this a 3/10 and recommend skipping it.