Lap Dancing

Lorissa McComas stars as Angie, an aspiring actress trying to make it in Hollywood. She just landed a screen test for her first movie, but it requires she strip down to nothing on camera, something she's never done before. Instead of waiting tables like many other aspiring actresses, she gets a job at a strip club so she can learn to be more comfortable with her clothes off in public. Two veteran strippers show her the ropes, the ups and the downs, and the reality of being in the business. There's plenty of naked women and a few sex scenes, including two with Angie in them, but this movie falls flat in many areas. It's not bad enough to call a failure, but it's not good enough to be put in the B-movie elite. Therefore, this is the first movie I give a normal C to.....no plus, no minus, just a C. Cinemax should be running this, give it a quick look during your normal channel surfing activities.

This is the story of Angie, an innocent in H'wood who, in order to shed her inhibitions and win a starring role in a sexy movie, must learn to shed her clothes in a strip club. This movie should not be used as a recruiting tool for ingenues.

Tane' McClure and Kim Dawson are the two strippers who help Angie (McCommass, as lovely a young lady as has ever been naked on screen) discover her unrealized erotic potential. Both tend to go over the top a bit, but given the surreal nature of their characters and the situation, why not? Director Mike Sedan gives them their head (that's a horse term, not a sex term, folks); he's busy making sure the camera catches all the action. And there's plenty of it, onstage, backstage, in the club patrons' laps (thus the title), out in the alley, in a grocery store on the way home, and at whatever other locales I've forgotten.

Taken at its own level, this is a well-made cautionary tale about what you have to do to succeed in show biz. The fact that it's balderdash doesn't matter.

Why so many commentators see this film as worthless and a "turn off" eludes me. It has probably the best erotic dance (stripper) scenes I have ever seen on film. Kim Dawson is just awesome in her dance scene

I thought this was fine for what it is: good eroticism. Sexy ladies in various states of undress and stripping. It is what it is. Although it is not listed on it's page here on IMDB, there are more than one version of this movie. When I first saw it back around 1996 - 1997, there were scenes in it that are now either missing or have been shortened. Some of the dance scenes are missing some full frontal shots, there is a scene where Angie and another dancer are in a corner grocery store where they flash the clerk to get free groceries, that scene is now missing when shown on Cinemax or Showtime. The sex scenes are noticably shorter also. I don't know why these changes were made, it would be nice if someone out there could explain this. I have personally had a lap dance from Lorissa McComas when she toured this area, the movie does not do her justice. She is much more beautiful and sweet in person.

Mike Sedan, who does cameos in all his films, is Russ Meyer without all the pain, suffering, and death. He sets all his films in L.A. like John Waters sets them in Baltimore. Whatever...

Lap Dancing is a mighty tame movie to me, because I live in a city that has clubs more graphic than this one. Lorissa McComas (sexy woman, no talent, man made puppies) plays a Mid-West transplant who wants to be an actress. Frustrated by failed attempts at winning movie roles, her room mate (Tane McClure) tells her that she should check out the gentlemen's club that she works at for "inspiration". She works there for a week and discovers its seedy underbelly.

With all sorts of the usual tricks in the softcore genre, and a few new ones, Lap Dancing does a pretty good job of depicting the real world. From the opening credits of city life on a L.A. street, to a dancer prostituting herself, to another dancer who has an abusive boyfriend, it's no fairy tale like Striptease was. Sadly, the acting is awful and the script was written by someone who uses "politically correct prose". However, the dance numbers on the stage are pretty good and they use some neat original music for them. Yet another pointless nudie, but it has some value. Mike Sedan's "Insatiable Wives" and "Mischievious" are also highly recommended as well.