2001



June 15, 2003
HBO
USA
English
88 minutes

An internet millionaire and a stripper spend a dirty weekend in Las Vegas.

Shot on digital, it looks murky, which probably helps the subject matter. One of the millions of men whose only connection with the outside world is through their modem, makes an effort to talk with the cute girl he's seen at his coffeeshop each morning. He finds out she's a stripper and offers her a wacky, yet somehow believable idea. Go to Las Vegas with him, for three nights, for $10,000. He has the money, she needs it. She looks to be a pretty successful stripper, can play the game well. To be sure, she's one of those movie strippers who is much smarter than the ones you're likely to encounter at your local club. They hammer out an arrangement which includes typical hooker stuff like no kissing, no feelings discussed, no penetration. Indeed she can do what she wants except during the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. when she must "perform" for him. This word "perform" is never really defined.

Interesting in what it's trying to address, rather than its execution. In the high tech world, thousands of men made thousands of dollars working hard, but being completely ill-equiped to find connections of an either social or romantic nature. The guy offering money to a stranger, basically turning her into a hooker, is not something he feels ashamed of. He has money, he wants to go to an exciting place with a woman he finds attractive. He has no idea how this is done. His apartment is shown in flashback: he plays a first person shooter on one screen, watches a Sorority house porn site on another, and follows his portfolio on a third. All the information a person could need is sent into his house, but none of the human contact he desires.

He is clearly smart, but sort of lucked into his fortune. She sees the goodness in him, but must remember that he hired her as an escort, and maybe he doesn't really think of her as anything more.

Not sexy as such, though there is plenty of skin and Molly Parker was daring to do this role. It shows just how cold many of us have become. Intimacy is e-mail now.

Quick cameo by Seymore Butts' fave Alisha Klass in a pretty explicit stripping scene early on.

***^ Ebert
** Berardinelli

5.5 Critical Consensus