Rating: 
Summary: under developed
Review: I just returned from watching "Center of the World" and must say that all I remember about the movie is the shallow dialogue and characters who never moved me to care about them. The footage, shot on digital video,left me cold most of the time as well. The story could have done so much better, considering the material. However, I refuse to feel sorry for a dot-comer who has lots of money but can't be human. How trite.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Emotional and Erotic
Review: I must say that when I was about to watch this film, I had the impression that it was going to be a rip off of "Pretty Woman", but it wasn't. It was about a man who hires a stripper to spend some time with him but they are under an agreement that they will not have intercourse. The time they spend together causes them to learn lessons about themselves and their sexuality. I have to applaud the actors on what a good job they did, at no point did the acting seem unconvincing. The movie looked like it was just going to be too full of sex to be able to have a real plot, but it wasn't. I was very suprised by it, and I would reccomend this to most people, except children because they would find it boring and it is much to sexual.
Rating:
Summary: Going Out On A Limb: I Thought It Was Great!
Review: I [agree] that "Peter Sarsgaard is WONDERFUL." [H]e plays the main character, not Balthazar Getty, who is barely in the film but is listed on top of the credits. I thought Sarsgaard was so great that I went over to IMDB to look up his other film credits. Much to my surprise, he apparently played a super bad guy in "Boys Don't Cry." I didn't even recognize him from that film to this film and that is the hallmark of great acting ability. He reminds me a great deal of Colin Firth, from a decade ago, as a leading man except that he's American. I picked the film because I generally admire Wayne Wang's work and have followed his career from its start with "Dim Sum." Wang has moved away from using solely Japanese American characters but has not moved away from his independent, edgy roots. I don't think this is a porn film, by the way, as others do. I think it is an American romance through and through. Sarsgaard is a wealthy cyber geek who is not a bad guy but his long suite is not the social graces. Shane Edelman plays the woman who comes into his life. She plays in a rock and roll band and also strips to support herself until she "makes it" as a drummer. This is actually about as American as you can get and is a far cry from the woman waiting for a man to rescue her from a life of stripping cliche. These two really match up quite well because they have a lot in common and in many ways are similar souls. It may not look that way on the surface but this is a deeply layered work and much becomes apparent to the patient viewer. Shane Edelman also does a nice job of showing how a "regular" woman can range all over the place in both her appearance and her emotions. Personally, I don't see how you can go wrong with this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Woman meets Indecent Proposal
Review: If this film had a rating it would, at best, be NC17. It is not a polite movie. Though both of the protagonists are very polite with each other.Quick plot summary: Nerd gets rich on software development. Meets a lap dancer. Pays her $10,000 to spend a weekend with him in Vegas. She lays down certain rules, but then accepts. The visual style of the film is wonderful. There are images that are close to unforgettable. There are images that are close to Mapplethorpian. The story is a wonderful pendulum between reality and fantasy, between what is and what might be. The title is explained early in the film. I leave it there for you to discover. But like the rest of the film it is both polite and raunchy. You see the illusion. Vegas is a perfect place to watch the illusion being created. But then you see shots of Vegas that you never see. A roller coaster in downtown Vegas? For adults? Wang directs a wonderful film. If you aren't afraid of sex, if psychological violence doesn't make you crawl, you won't be disappointed. If you can understand that illusion is the center of the universe, this is a film that will go into your permenant collection.
Rating:
Summary: Virtually interesting.
Review: In outline, 'Center of the World' is one of those envelope-pushing, censor-baiting films like 'Intimacy' that combines the use of digital film-making and the subject matter of explicit sex to create a more immediate and frank picture of reality, or realism. this being a film by Wayne Wang and co-written by Paul Auster, we can at least expect some intelligence in this case, and 'Center' is less interested in presenting unadorned reality, than exploring the links between digital film-making and sexuality. The artificial premise - a dot.com millionaire takes a lap-dancer to Las Vegas for a 'romantic' weekend - is heightened by the artificial flashback structure; the strict rules laid down by the woman; the theatrical rituals in which we see every stage in the process of making the erotic illusion, the make-up, clothes, music, body movement, dialogue etc.; the theatrical surroundings, the complex framing of the hotel rooms, with their fairy-tale-like doorways restricting passage, and paintings of nude figures; the phoniness of Las Vegas itself, less the centre of the world than a gaudy, miniature recreation of it. This emphasis on the artifice of sex, supposedly the most natural relation between two people, its rules, games, strategies, rituals etc., is much more convincing than the contrived realism of 'Intimacy''s grappling. Allied to this artifice of subject matter is Wang's film-making. Taking his digital camera which facilitates greater realism, and setting it in Las Vegas, makes the real even more artificial, the outlines of bodies and surfaces heightened, as if against a backdrop, the characters removed from their surroundings. Wang makes great play with reflections (mirrors, windows, glass) to elucidate his main theme, the conflict between reality and illusion, between genuine emotion and an act, that pivots the story. But he also makes us aware of the presence of the camera, its elaborate, artifical movements, the degrading and disintegration of the image, which become a thematic, even philosophical reflection on the human drama. More importantly, Wang reveals the limitation of digital's claims on the real - in one brilliant scene, the camera is tied to a rollercoaster: the image can't keep up with the speed and breaks up, fails, just as Wang knows the representation of explicit sex can never go the whole way, which the child-like Richard learns devastatingly, forever uncomprehending that centre of the world, female sexuality. so the film is intelligent and sensitive. there are, however, two big problems. the first is that Molly Parker takes all the risks, her body is constantly on display, often filmed in ways flattering to the voyeur. It could be argued, from the opening credits of a computer screen, the hero's centre of the world, that the entire story is the fantasy of a nerd (the ambiguity of the flashbacks further question the narrative 'reality'), that everything must be mediated through his no-risk, no-show eyes. but whatever way you argue it, it's always the woman taking her clothes off. Secondly, and more damagingly, these films like 'Intimacy' are supposed to be 'about' sex, but they have no faith in the audience's interest and have to impose stories around it, wending towards utterly predictable climaxes or releases, which is why 'In the Realm of the Senses', a film unflinching and uncluttered in its representation of sex, remains unequalled. So 'Centre', for all its ambition and frequent, ironic wit, ends up becoming rather dull.
Rating: 
Summary: It's 10:00 p.m.: Do you know where your lap dance is?
Review: Las Vegas. A computer nerd with too much money--a thin, freckled redhead with too little money. A gaudy hotel suite, complete with erotic paintings; a set of two double-doors, separating (permanently) our two protagonists.
And behold the movie THE CENTER OF THE WORLD. That's pretty much it.
Okay, there is a little more than the above, but not much. When computer wonder-boy Richard Longman (Peter Sarsgaard) finds himself infatuated with a stripper and rock drummer-wannabe Florence (Molly Parker), he offers the lady ten grand to spend three pleasurable nights in Las Vegas with him. Never mind the fact he could have used the money for a decent set of clothes and a shampoo, but I digress. Florence accepts the offer, but there are conditions. Primarily, ala the film "Pretty Woman," the conditions have to do with avoiding liking one another, so at once the viewer knows immediately what's going to happen.
So, in essence, we are treated to a film where two characters prance and frolic in wanton self-denial, until, at last, one of them finally succumbs to his/her (no giving away the storyline for me, by golly) emotions. The confrontation/climax is both bittersweet and unbelievable--especially once the rejector treats the rejectee to a most puzzling episode of self-pleasure, before the lowered eyes of said rejectee.
Where the heck did that come from?
But, again, I digress. THE CENTER OF THE WORLD is a handsome film, and very easy on the eyes. Both main characters could stand a square meal, by the way, but again, that's just me. Eat hearty, folks. The ending is contrived, nothing is actually resolved, and now I'm pulling the cushions off my sofa looking for loose change. Gotta save up my money: Ten thousand buckaroos is going to be dang hard to come by.
--D. Mikels
Rating:
Summary: stop!
Review: OKAY FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE STOP THE STUPID SHAKY CAM
STUFF! It is so tired. It is too distracting. I mean I wanna watch a movie not watch some bad shooting and pseudo artistry. Also there was bad ghosting or blurriness in the basketball scene that was highly annoying. The story was okay. I got tired of seeing his rear. I didn't find myself really caring about either character, except the hooker. Sexy? A little bit. Pass!
Rating:
Summary: Brain torture, but it feels good
Review: Only watch this film if you can handle directors like Greenaway, Kubrick and some Lynch. This is a film that is sold to be sexual and it has that element, but this film is great to whomever has had an empty relationship and tried to make it work. Great visuals for a digital movie and great music. But it comes at you like pushing wood splinters under your fingernails. Its something like "Tokyo Decadence" or "Eyes Wide Shut". I liked it, but most people will not.
Rating:
Summary: sexy and intense drama
Review: Peter Sarsgaard(The Salton Sea, Empire) is in love with Molly Parker(Bliss1997, Sunshine) who is a hooker& a stripper, Sarsgaard brings Parker to Vegas for 3 days and then things start to unfold. his passion for her breaks down a wall and she might like him too. great performances by the leads with some intense, sexual moments, some of which Parker gets down, nice..good drama about obsession
Rating:
Summary: about the movie...The centre of the World
Review: Richard, a computer genius (Peter Sarsgaard) offers Florence, a struggling musician/stripper (Molly Parker) $10,000 to spend the weekend with him in Vegas, but before she says yes he must agree to her terms...no kissing, only meeting between the hours of 10pm and 2am, not getting personal and absolutely no penetration or sex.
With these rules laid out in front of him Richard agrees even though he plans on making her love him. Richard, actually love this stripper(Florence) and what make piss off and 'force' sex with her is that Florence told him that she was only paid to make her enjoy him(can't really remember that much).
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