Two amazing things about this movie; no, make that three:(1) That Carl Hiaasen actually liked the adaptation of his hilarious novel. Hiaasen is still one of the funniest writers around(if you read STRIPTEASE and liked it, I highly recommend all of the other novels he wrote by himself), but this proves his taste is questionable. This movie, unlike the novel, is painfully unfunny. There are occasional good lines from the novel(like when Ving Rhames(the only good actor here, along with Demi Moore's daughter Rumer Willis) telling two security guards that Meryl Streep used to strip under the name Chesty LeFrance), and even a couple of original ones(like Moore refusing to dance with cream corn because she doesn't want it to go up her "hoo-ha"), but the motivations, the characters, and the story are all hacked away; (2) that Andrew Bergman is responsible for this mess. After all, from his track record as writer(THE IN-LAWS, FLETCH, co-writer of SOAPDISH) and director(THE FRESHMAN, HONEYMOON IN VEGAS(both of which he also wrote), IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU), you'd think this was someone who knows funny. But he goes so wrong here it's unbelievable. Typical is the scene where Burt Reynolds character, who we know is a lech, delivers a sermon on "family values." Did Bergman think he was actually breaking new ground here? Contrast that to a similar scene in the book, where we hear(though don't see) his character deliver an off-the-cuff speech on Israel which works precisely because he's feeling horny. This is funny. What's in the movie isn't; (3) That Demi Moore keeps appearing in novel adaptations when she apparently doesn't understand what made the source work. This is the third novel adaptation(THE SCARLET LETTER, THE JUROR) in a row she appeared in, and they were all awful adaptations of fine books. Okay, I'm not a big fan of hers, but she's done good work(G.I. JANE, IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK), and this isn't it.
Review of Striptease
