Rating: 
Summary: This is what pretty women should have been
Review: Take all of "Hollywood" out of Pretty Women and this is the movie you get. It show what would really happen when a man hires a women for 3 days. Not that "here's my credit card, go shopping fluff." If you are sicken my mainstream Hollywood watch this movie. If you aren't sure about spending the $$$, RENT it.
Rating: 
Summary: Boring to watch
Review: The actors spend too much time just staring at each other without speaking. The story is too unbelievable too. It was a waste of my money to buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Center Of The World
Review: The Center Of The World is a fantastic, intriguing film about desire at its rawest. Peter Sarsgaard is WONDERFUL. He is the main character and why he is not listed in the credits on Amazon is plain ignorance. Getty is in it for about three minutes. Please rent this movie with a girl and a bottle of wine. Or by yourself and a bottle of, well... Just watch it.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth seeing, but distractingly flawed
Review: The only thing that separates this film from high-budget Hollywood stuff is the poor production quality. Some of the actors are second-rate (including the male lead) and the fact-checking, research, and continuity could have been a lot better. In the non-sex scenes, the writing was naive (or just ignorant) and the acting unconvincing. The theme and the development of that theme are pretty ordinary and eminently marketable.However, it's a titillating, sexy movie. Someone else described it as soft porn.... I think that's a fair description.
Rating:
Summary: Exploring the boundaries between reality and fantasy
Review: Think the premise of "Pretty Woman," but more firmly grounded in the real world, and you might get close to what "The Center of the World" is all about. This film abandons the glamourized Hollywood notions of sex workers, and doesn't engage in the pat, happy ending that we saw in "Pretty Woman"... and it is a far better film for it. Furthermore, Molly Parker is far more exotically lovely than Julia Roberts could even hope to be, and a better actress to boot. In short, if you're looking for a romantic escapist fantasy about a sex worker redeemed by the love of a good man, look elsewhere -- this film is far more complex than that. Comparisons to "Pretty Woman" do seem inevitable however, to the point that I wonder if the director and writers weren't crafting this film as a direct response to that one, a way of saying, "Whoa boy, reality check!" The premise is familiar at least. Richard (Peter Saarsgard) is wealthy but lonely after a breakup with his girlfriend two years before. He meets Florence (Molly Parker) in a coffee shop and finds out that she is a stripper. He visits her at the strip club where she works (nicely named Pandora's Box), and is so intrigued by her that he offers her $10,000 to spend three days with him in Las Vegas. She agrees, with a number of strict conditions, including limiting the number of hours she is required to "work," and limiting the acts she will perform. "No kissing on the mouth" (sounds familiar, no?) and "no penetration" are among her limitations. From this familiar territory, though, the film explores new ground. Richard and Florence get to know one another as they spend more time together, and Florence finds out that Richard isn't such a bad guy, just lonely. "Why do you have to be so nice?" she asks him at one point, partially angry and partially not. Richard, in the meantime, is becoming more and more deeply entranced by this woman he has hired, which becomes part of the conflict. Given the subject of the film, there is of course a great deal of sexuality portrayed in it. It is handled pretty tastefully, and none of it is there for its own sake. It is partially through their sexual relationship that we see the growth and the limitations of the characters' relationship in general. The sex scenes are handsomely shot and are not the typical sort of scenes one might expect from an erotic film; nevertheless (perhaps because they are unique), they are extremely erotic. The acting is quite good. We spend most of the film only seeing Richard and Florence interacting together, with just a few other characters showing up here and there, but the two lead actors have the chops to sustain the film from beginning to end. Peter Saarsgard plays a "nice guy" well, and it's good to see that he doesn't overplay it at all. He's a very real nice guy, with flaws and points where he stops being nice out of frustration or anger. Molly Parker, as Florence, lends a similar depth to her role. From the first moment you see her you can see why Richard becomes infatuated with her: she is ethereally lovely, with a husky voice that is simply enthralling. But it is her personality that Richard really falls for, and that too is portrayed believably. She is played with a genuine warmth and likeability that is often missing from erotic films, but not overly sweet like "Pretty Woman" and many other Hollywood attempts at a similar story. I suspect that Molly Parker will be a talent to watch carefully in the next few years. The nature and limitations of the relationship between these two people -- in one sense employer and employee and in another far more intimate than that -- becomes the main subject of the film as it progresses. How much of what Florence is giving to Richard is real, and how much is an act? How does the aspect of money change what happens over that three days? Are his feelings based in reality? Are hers? Some of these questions are answered at the end, others are left open to the viewer's interpretation. There is nothing about the end, however, that is trite or simple, and as in life, there is a great deal that will depend on the perspective of the person watching the story unfold. This is a film very much grounded in reality, dealing with real people in a realistic (if unique) situation, and in the end it avoids the typical Hollywood fantasy notions that are so common. Comparisons to "Pretty Woman" may well be inevitable for this film, but in such comparisons "The Center of the World" comes out ahead in every category. It's not a perfect film, but it is an excellent one. It is both sexier and more realistic, and that makes it well worth watching in my book.
Rating:
Summary: Better Than Expected
Review: This film is about two people who have compartmentalized their sexuality. At issue is whether they can overcome their neurosis, their alienation from their own humanity. The answer is, no, it can't work, just as the woman (Florence) knows all along but the man (Richard) has to find out. We never learn what has caused their alienation but it's not important. In the case of Richard, a successful computer geek, it is at least part of what has enabled him to immerse himself in work (some people believe that working long hours away from people have caused his neurosis but that is less likely). In Florence' case it enables her to earn her living performing lap dances for strangers. In both cases their coping mechanism is reinforced by its success. Florence is more aware of her coping mechanism and therefore realistic about it. Richard, suffering from over work, loneliness, the pressure of an impending IPO and the recent death of his father hasn't got a clue. He meets Florence, learns that she is a stripper and invites her to a weekend in Vegas. After being turned down he offers to pay for her company (!). She is hip and knows nothing can come of this even after she later develops conflicting feelings. The "exotic" dancing is at least erotic, a lot more than I can say for the films, Exotica, Dancing at the Blue Iguana, Showgirls and Striptease. That's probably because there was at least a psychological connection between the two characters. I did feel sympathetic to them unlike anyone in those other films. The woman is at her sexiest when she is fully clothed and beaming straight into the man's eyes, lending proof to the adage that sex is 90% psychology. ...
Rating:
Summary: Fear and Screwing in Las Vegas (plus love?)
Review: This film is an awesomely accurate depiction of an aspect of the struggle that all men and women living in the United States at the beginning of the 21st century face. The issues are money, sex, violence, power, intimacy, objectification, high technology, isolation, fantasy, reality.....well I could go on and on. On the surface, an isolated, rich computer geek who spends his free time watching internet sex, financial reports, and video games meets a stripper who definitely knows how to do her job well, is struggling financially and is a drummer in a rock band. They strike a business deal, but it's very sweet IMHO to watch their defenses crumble and the real human beings emerge....to what degree......you'll have to decide for yourself. Even if most of us don't have exactly the lives of the two main characters, we are confronted with the situations they face daily. In that respect, it's a contemporary parable. I think everyone should see this film, but I already know that a good percentage of you will disagree:-).
Rating: 
Summary: The Center of the World
Review: This is a movic about a dod.com guy who has too much money to wast. Not erotic at all.
Rating:
Summary: Pointless titilation
Review: This is a really awful movie. The characters are one-dimensional so it's hard to care about this bunch of loosers. There is no significant plot development (when a third character appears there's a brief hope that there might be something of interest, but she soon leaves the script) so it's hard to sustain attention. The production values would earn a "C" in film school--instead of a "gritty, reality" feel, you end up saying: "I could have made a better movie myself." Avoid it.
Rating:
Summary: I'll Show You Real....
Review: This is what Florence (Molly Parker) shows Richard (Peter Sarsgaard) at the end of the movie. The full magnitude and sensation of a woman's orgasm. But this movie isn't about sex or money;although, the viewer will find this movie intensely erotic and with the power struggle of money and privation. This movie is a jarring look at the difference between sexual addiction used by Richard to cover up the pain over his father's death and numb the anxiety over his inadequate way of coping with his responsibilities in his business. Florence is a working girl, a lap dancer in a strip club, using sex and fantasy to entice a man's attention and money. However, there are moments in the movie where you can see and feel the void and hollowness left when sexual intimacy is without real love. That is something to be learned in another movie or writing; although not here, this movie does hand out valuable lessons on the avoidance of pain and the search for real love....
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