Club Utopia

This film would appeal to a wide audience. It has some adult content, but it is not vulgar. It has scenes in a strip club but there is no full nudity and the strippers scenes are "respectable". What I mean is, if a person wanted real bump and grind, down and dirty strippers, they wouldn't find them in this film. We see Sally, the wife trapped in a boring wholesome life, transform from a clean-cut young wife into a bold angry wife who wants to get even with her cheating husband. The drama is tongue-in-cheek, much to laugh at, and an interesting story line to maintain interest. The cast of likable characters was well chosen. As one of the earlier reviewers stated, this film is similar to "I Love You To Death" with Kevin Kline and Tracy Ullman a 1990 film that I loved.

Sally Enitlav is an under-appreciated housewife looking to at least get a part-time job while her husband Alex is preoccupied with stock trading and talking in his sleep about someone from the office named Gretchen DeSanto. Some of his heavy dreams end with screams that wake him up and Sally believes it is guilt. Sally applies for what she expects to be a waitress position at Club Utopia only to discover what they want is a dancer. Embarrassed as she is, she goes through the motions of getting a burlesque license and learning that a client paying for a table dance actually expects her to take off some clothes. Alex begins to sense that Sally is being secretive about something, so he hires a private detective Richard Sabatini to follow her with help from a door to door perfume salesman calling himself Mr. Cologne. Involving Sabatini puts his own life in the cross-hairs of cameras and exposes him to blackmail over the relationship with Gretchen. Events escalate until Sally is ready to team up with Sabatini and turn the tables on Alex and putting his life comically in danger as his hidden assassin may have to reach around from hiding under a bed and attempt to jab a hypodermic into a buttock that is moving around while he entertains a female guest. Shiraz Tayyeb, the new actor playing Cologne, has a natural presence, and the club DJ Trevor Annon seems right at home. Brett Halsey has a grounded and understated authority with inherent humour as the owner of Club Utopia. Full disclosure: I was involved with the script for a couple of years in the Nineties and a few bits I was responsible for maybe didn't belong by time this movie was made. For example, a Basic Instinct murder parody at the start made sense and was timely in 1992 the year Basic Instinct was released. Also, Alex asks the detective why he has a fan running on a cold day and he says, "Atmosphere." That made sense if it was a ceiling fan I indicated and if the office evoked Phillip Marlow and Sam Spade era detectives, but the production had instead gone for a small desk fan. Those kinds of issues might only be a distraction for me and might not throw the average viewer. As Alex, Srdjan Nikolic's Russian accent removes any subtlety of delivery but seems suited for the agitated state of the character for much of the movie. Sally as played by Elsie Muller is at her most believable when angry or fully crazy. She has a typical movie star look and an edge that makes the more vulnerable aspects of the character seem less accessible to her. Frank A. Caruso directing himself as Sabatini has a few moments where he seems to aware of the humour, and the performance is much better when he has to be either the improbable voice of sanity or conning his own cousin Mr. Cologne into doing the dirty work of their caper.

This is one of the worst movies I have ever watched. I'm 53 years old, watched movies since I was a child, and never have I seen a 'professionally' made film that was as badly written and filmed as this one.

The plot is ridiculous. The dialog could have been better written by a Grade 3 class, in the dark, with screwdrivers instead of pencils. Seriously, it's that bad. I actually encourage those brave enough (and who have literally nothing better to do) to watch and get a laugh. Aside from this, this movie is pointless. Giving it a 1 is generous.

The only person with any acting skill is the lead actress, and I feel bad for her that she had to suffer through the scenes in making this film. She deserves a chance with better material and better production values.

The movie had very good suspense and plenty of humour.The actors played their roles very well.The ladies were very appealing and made it real.

The movie offered a different approach to romantic comedies and drama.The scenes were filmed in good locations.There was plenty of unpredictable moments that left the audience in suspense.The lead actors were believable and passionate about their roles.The other actors provided good support also. The entertainers at the club were identical to the ones we see today.The atmosphere,attitude and dancing showed how the profession still plays a role for some in society and how outsiders can become curious with a long standing profession.It gives a bored person something to think about.

This stinks worse than the dog crap the husband kept stepping in...been a lot of strip clubs since the 70's and never saw one this tame before....usually you can't see through the smoke and when you can its wall to wall naked women of all sorts...it would have worked better with an actress that could actually strip and do table dances...perhaps you might see criminal types hanging around but not conducting business on the premises...disguises like trench coats, shades and rumpled hats went out of style with the 30's hard boiled detective movies....i don't the writers of this script have a clue