Dancing at the Blue Iguana (2000)

A non-glamorous portrayal of the lives of people who make their living at a strip club.

Director:

Michael Radford

Writers:

Michael Radford (screenplay), David Linter (screenplay)

Stars:

Charlotte Ayanna, Daryl Hannah, Kristin Bauer van Straten

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charlotte Ayanna	...	Jessie
Kristin Bauer van Straten	...	Nico (as Kristin Bauer)
W. Earl Brown	...	Bobby
Daryl Hannah	...	Angel
Chris Hogan	...	Dennis
Sheila Kelley	...	Stormy
Elias Koteas	...	Sully
Vladimir Mashkov	...	Sacha
Sandra Oh	...	Jasmine
Rodney Rowland	...	Charlie
Jennifer Tilly	...	Jo
Robert Wisdom	...	Eddie
David Amos	...	Dave
Carolyne Aycaguer	...	Sophie
R.C. Bates	...	Jimmy (as RC Bates)

Storyline

Angel is a dancer wishing to adopt a child. Stormy is a dancer with a secret with her brother Sully. Jasmine is a poetess who falls in love with Dennis. Jo is a dancer who became pregnant and Jessie is a woman fighting to survive in Hollywood. The link between them is the fact that they dance at Blue Iguana, a strip-club managed by Eddie. Their personal dramas are the theme of this movie.

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Plot Keywords:

strip club | sexy woman | sexy | breasts | prostitution | 

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Taglines:

from the director of Il Postino

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive sexual content/nudity, language, some drug content and brief violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

11 October 2001 (Israel)

Also Known As:

Historias de la noche

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$30,181, 21 October 2001, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$30,181, 21 October 2001

Company Credits

Production Co:

Moonstone Entertainment,Bergman Lustig Productions,Dragon Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sheila Kelley originally conceived the idea for this film. It was supposed to be a story about incest between her character and the character played by Elias Koteas. Once the other actresses started improvising, it became more of an ensemble piece.

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Goofs

Jo frequently takes long swigs from her whiskey container, yet never swallows any drink and speaks immediately after taking the container away from her mouth.

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Quotes

Jasmine: [about her poetry] It's about the things inside you.
Nico: Things inside *you*.

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Connections

Featured in Strip Notes (2002)

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Soundtracks

Gimme One More Shot
Written and Performed by Scott Nickoley and Jamie Dunlap
Courtesy of Mastersource

User Reviews

Surprisingly Well Acted But Lacked A Good Story.

This was a movie about the lives of 5 different strippers (Jennifer Tilly, Charlotte Ayanna, Sandra Oh, Daryl Hannah & Sheila Kelley). Supposedly, the original script was intended to be built around Kelley's character "Stormy", but as the actresses got to know their own characters and grow into them, the script was adapted to feature all 5. In fact, I think the Stormy character had the least amount of screen time. It was probably the worst story of the five. None of the five stories stuck out as being great. All were average, thus, the movie was average.

The five co-stars here are all good actresses in my opinion, and that saved the movie from the horrible movie it could have been. One thing I did like about the movie is that the actresses that played strippers were not afraid to play strippers. I mean that in a couple of different ways. First, and in many ways most importantly, they were not afraid to be nude on camera. Usually, even in B-movies, there is one actress who wants to play the character but does not want to do what is necessary to play the character. Lets face it, we watch this movie because it is about strippers, and therefore, we expect to see them strip! The second point I want to make here is that the actresses did their homework as far as how the stripper routines work. They obviously took a class or studied on their own the art of "working the pole" and lap-dances, etc. This gives the movie credibility. Not one of the girls looked out of place dancing in the nude. If I was grading this purely on the striptease portion of this movie, it would get a 10. Pretty good stuff.

Unfortunately, this movie is being graded as a whole, and as far as the plots go, they are not quite up to par. The actresses went as far as they could with the given material and more often than not, the movie dragged on, despite the acting, itself, being quite good. I've just recently noticed Sandra Oh and I have to say, she is a pretty versatile and darn good actress.

Jennifer Tilly also stepped up a bit as the rough, biker chick stripper/dominatrix on the side. She played the most troubled girl at the club, Jo, who had to deal with the fact that she was pregnant, on drugs, etc. Everything that could be wrong with her was wrong with her.

Robert Wisdom also did a great job as the sleazy strip club owner, Eddie. His character was strong and was the guy who kept the girls in line at work.

Overall, this was a pretty average story, despite how well the girls and rest of the cast did. I have a feeling a different cast would have made a complete mockery of the movie. As it is, I give it a 6 of 10.