The Players Club (1998)

by Dane Youssef

YOU CAN MAKE A LOT OF MONEY IN THE STRIPPING GAME. And in the film industry.

But movies on the stripping game don't seem to. They never seem to be well-made, or much fun. Why? What's going on here? The characters and plot are so non-existent, they fall under the category of pornos without sex.

And who wants to see that?

Such on the form as "Showgirls" made one wish the makers had followed pornography by example and not tried to have plot.

Good readers, take a deeep breath of relief that "The Players Club" has slightly higher-quality of strip than glitzy dives like "Showgirls" and "Striptease." Not quite the British Oscar contender level of "The Full Monty"... but not quite a "Striptease."

Written and directed by old-school rap superstar Ice Cube, "The Players Club" is a posh, yet harsh feature dealing with women needing big money really fast and giving themselves over to this way in order to get it. Stripping changes who you are all over. Inside-and-out, Diana says.

But hey--everybody needs money. Everyone wants more. Even if you're Trump, every single dollar... just isn't enough. We've all heard of the girl who turns trick in order as last resort. There are women who get into stripping 'cause they want worship, adoration. To control every man in the room--and her career.

But there are those who just need to make mad money mad fast. When we meet Diana (LisaRaye), she's just had a fight with father over college. He throws her out. She leans on a guy for support. He gives her more than that. He gives her a child. Then he leaves her.

Single black woman raises baby on her own, no means. Such a sad, familiar story.

To make ends meet, she gets at a shoe-store job. Some strippers come in and tell her there are ways of making more money--much, much more. In high demand. You're in charge of your career, your clientèle, yourself. Diana, you're suddenly in charge of life.

The "The Players Club," a ritzy men's club it Atlanta. The place is always hopping like a horny-toad on hop with the kind of people you'd like to know.

"Players" has a lot of the gimmicks as "Striptease." One can only wonder... did The Ice see that movie... just before he wrote up this?

A lot is pretty warmed-over. But despite blaxploitation roots and intentions, "The Players Club" boasts an A-list cast and production values, thanks to the powerful status name of The Ice Cube and New Line.

Bernie Mac gives in his plum of the "Players Club" owner "Dollar" Bill. A eccentric cartoon who dresses like a pimp, promotes himself like Don King with that philosophical wisdom that one picks up on the street, from the school of hard knocks. Business, yet ghetto.

John Amos and Faizon Love are a pair of sorta dirty-cops who frequent. They got that Amos and Andy-shtick with Amos playing it straight and Love going for laughs.

Oscar-winner Foxx of "Ray" fame got his start in the biz as stand-up and here as Blue, it might've served him (and the freakin' movie) better had he done some of his act. You'd think the DJ at a strip club wouldn't be important (Bill even tells Blue that to his face at one point), but he proves to be the very thing that Diana needs--even pulling it all together in the final act.

Looking at all thi

Fmovies: Ice Cube probably will never be as revered or respected as much as his cohort, the late Tupac Shakur, when it comes to rapping or acting, but he's getting there. I liked his performances in Friday, Next Friday, Three Kings, and especially in Boyz 'N The Hood. Now the Cube attempts to direct a film, and this is his first project.

Every Black American I've known has seen this movie; they have pride in seeing their brothers make films. Although this one is not great; it's watchable and it's quite good in spots.

The story is about a young lady named Diana who comes from a well-off family. She had a child out of wedlock. Her parents want her to go to their alma mater, but she wants to go to another school that the parents disapprove. They get into a big fight, so she leaves them to go to her university of choice. Of course, she doesn't have enough money to go to school and raise her child, so she decides to become an exotic dancer at a black club. The club is owned by a man who is in big trouble with loan sharks.

Later, a cousin comes to visit for the summer, and seeing Diana working there, decides to get a job there, too. Unfortunately, Ebony is drawn to the seediness of the people, and Diana must monitor her closely, because she's underage (18-19)

Of course, all the usual stereotypes are here, the fat stripper who's booed of the stage, the outlandish show-offy dancers, the slow-witted stalkers, just like how it was done in "Striptease", but it's not played for laughs. There is one funny scene in which the loan sharks stick Jamie Foxx's head in the car and drive around with him still on his feet when he tells them he doesn't know where the club owner (Bernie Mac) is.

The acting is either weak or over-the-top. LisaRaye, as Diana, is not a good actress, but she does look good. The others are either weak as well or go way overboard. The ambience, though, is quite good. The direction is decent, but the script is filled with cliches and other Black sayings that have been done to death.

Why did I compare it with the A-Team? Despite the extreme violence stemming from beatings, arson, assaults, etc. no one dies! Just like how The A-Team and the bad guys have balletic shoot-outs, no man is ever shot and killed. Not a single person is killed in this film, which at least is a positive thing; that every one gets a second chance to amend themselves. If you're a fan of Ice Cube; this isn't bad, but I'd rent it on the cheap if you've seen everything else.

I'm not to sure if this was supposed to be serious, or a comedyÂ… There was a lot of funny stuff in it. But, there were also a lot of things that seemed to me were supposed to be scary.

It is a story about an innocent girl who is working as a stripper trying to put herself through school, and all the drama and headaches that comes along with her job. Not a bad story. It has some heartfelt events. The dialog wasn't very good at all. The acting was hit or miss. The way Ice Cube told the story was pretty flawed. Things were pretty misplaced, which makes it hard to follow at times.

Wasn't a bad flick. Something I would recommend solely for entertainment purposes, and only if you like cheesy "being bullied" type movies. 95% of the characters were either being bullied by someone, bullying someone else, or bothÂ…

The Players Club fmovies. This movie has it all. Comedy, drama, action, sex appeal and good acting. Ice Cube, as a writer, has done it again and, for the movie to be his directorial debut, it is an excellent piece of film work.

When Diana gets pregnant in college she moves in her with boyfriend who soon tires of her and moves out. When working in a shoe shop Diana gets met by two strippers who invite her down to try out for the Players Club where she gets taken on. Given the name Diamond by her boss, Diana also gets her cousin involved in the club while she also tries to look after her son and stay in school. Eventually the drama of the club gets intense and catches her up.

I like Ice Cube as an actor. He does stay in the `safe' comedy roles but he has also moved on well since his debut in Boyz n'da Hood. Here he takes on his directorial debut and he does OK. I mean the shots are nice and the camera moves around well enough. Sadly he is let down on nearly every other front. First off, the plot is pretty poor. It's told in flashback and just seems to involve everyone swearing as our heroine tries to go her own way and move up and out etc etc. We are `treated' to the odd dance and fight scene but really the bits don't all come together and it just feels like everyone is swearing over nothing all the time.

The acting is surprisingly bad from several main sources. Lisa Raye's narration is terrible but her performance is actually alright. Calhoun is good looking and quite good but that's about it. Mac is terrible, not funny or believable. Foxx is not bad but could have done more. Wilson and Givens are ugly and nasty – they can't act and I find it hard to believe people actually paid Wilson to get naked!

This film is basically a modern blackploitation film – made for black people to come and watch regardless of quality. The plot is average at best and the performances are mostly poor. The plot is episodic and lacks drive or drama and will leave you feeling bored and distracted. Overall Cube may have directing skills worth watching again but lets hope his next vehicle is better than this.

In an ideal guided tour about freakishly bad movies from 1977 onwards, The Players' Club should deserve a stop. It's got a terrible storyline that, along with the not-so-subtle clinging onto (or blatantly ripping off) the tradition of blaxploitation, makes up for a trite, short-living revival of that genre. But also it's one of those bad movies that are so bad you can't take your eyes off of it. Watch out for the (so fake it hurts) catfight scene between the "good" stripper Lisa Raye and the "bad", lesbian, vicious, bleached blonde, whatshername stripper. The small part of Ice Cube himself as the stereotype bad guy and the obvious "you can make all the money you want, but don't let money make a slave out of you" message (you're gonna hear it so many times throughout the movie it's gonna ring in your head like a f***ing bell for hours afterwards !) top it all. Rent it, but only if you know how much it's gonna suck.