SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Melanie Bouvet The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

mrliteral What a complete and utter mess. Yes, there are interesting characters. Yes, there are good performances. Yes, there are scenes which are compelling in and of themselves. To make the movie equally good and interesting and compelling requires some type of thematic element, a storyline, that will tie everything together. There is none here.There are scenes with characters behaving in precisely the opposite manner of their previous scene. There are moments and concepts that have nothing to do with anything yet keep popping up and going nowhere. There are ancillary characters who come and go without doing anything or adding to the scenes they show up in. Lousy storytelling.If the trivia is accurate, and there are enough alternate takes to create ten vastly different movies out of all the footage...how awful must the alternative possibilities be if this is the best one they could come up with? Congratulations, though, on having so many well-known actresses naked in the same movie. That's quite an achievement.

L. Denis Brown I found this a strange film to watch for the first time, as the principal characters all gave me the impression that I was watching a social documentary showing the real lives of real strippers, even though I knew these characters were being played by half a dozen well known actresses who had presumably learned to strip just for this film. I was expecting a fictional story which involved them all to develop, but this never happened. Ultimately this mystery was partly solved in the final credit sequences which explain that the film's characters were developed during a series of "improvisational workshops" in which all the principal members of the cast participated. (I understand that the DVD includes additional extras which usefully expand these explanations, but I have not seen these.) This unusual, but in my opinion largely successful, approach has generated a great deal of controversy among the users of IMDb as fifty comments on this film, ranging from highly enthusiastic to extremely critical, have so far been posted. Viewer ratings are widely spread through the whole range from 1 to 10, and show that the film is most highly regarded by young women whilst it has least appeal for young men. I am not clear whether the cast were assembled for the first such workshop in time to contribute to the decision to locate most of the action for this film in a Los Angeles strip club. There have been many films such as "Steamed" or "First Wives Club" that largely comprise dialogue between a group of women; usually with the link that they all attended the same school or college at some time in the past, and clearly almost any venue where women characteristically meet together could be used for a film of this type. If this decision was made by the film's promoters before the cast list was assembled, it would be interesting to know the reason for it - the average age of a successful actress is very different from that of the typical pulchritudinous 18 to 25 year olds who most frequently perform in these clubs. Another problem is that all the principal characters are, for obvious dramatic reasons, shown as somewhat dysfunctional. In practice I am sure that many of the performers in strip clubs are perfectly normal, if somewhat uninhibited, local housewives who find that an occasional session 'at the club' provides an easy way for them to keep fit which not only saves the costs of belonging to a health club but in addition enables them to make a little money through part time earnings. Since the operator of the Blue Iguana is shown as a somewhat unpleasant character this singularity is easily explained, but the film might have been more credible if it had been planned as a true documentary rather than a pseudo documentary. If on the other hand the strip club venue was selected by the chosen cast at their first workshop we can have much more fun considering why this was their choice. I recall a comment by one reviewer after seeing the film "Striptease' that Demi Moore made stripping seem like an Olympic sport. A psychologist might tell us that most women have the occasional urge to flaunt their charms in this rather blatant way but are held back by propriety, and so an opportunity to do so in the guise of another character would be very appealing; a casting director might point out that a successful role in such a part could provide cast members with a career plus which would significantly increase the probability of landing other very rewarding parts in the future; a health consultant might simply comment that playing such a physically demanding role would clearly be very beneficial to any actress whose recent work had left her a little jaded; a marketing consultant might comment that any film featuring strippers can be counted on to generate a lot of interest; and a gossip columnist might unkindly associate this choice of part with an attempt to recover lost youth. We can easily postulate several other possible motives for the choice - my point here is simply to note that a film structured to provide so much food for thought is challenging enough to have the potential to be a very good film, whether it finally succeeds is a matter of individual judgement.What is the viewer left with after watching this film? Certainly some exceptionally well rounded characters very competently played by the cast member concerned. On this basis I would rate the film as worth 7 on a 10 point scale, although with less competent acting there might not have been enough 'meat' to warrant a rating of more than 3. Full marks to the cast and Director for creating a number of quite memorable cameos (it would be unfair to single out any individual cast members for special mention although naturally some of the parts are much stronger than others). These cameos make it a rewarding film to watch, and it deserves to have been much more successful than it was. The main weakness is its lack of a coherent storyline and its very inconclusive ending, although I personally believe that both these could have been made much less significant by more effective work on the cutting room floor.One warning - this film is certainly not a celluloid version of strip club entertainment in the way that, for example, 'Mondo Topless' was. Those whose primarily interest is in the venue should visit a real club and not watch this film. Although it shows plenty of nudity (which often appears rather self-conscious as camera angles almost always limit it to toplessness), and the dancing is extremely well portrayed; this is not presented in the progressive and provocative way that regular visitors to such clubs would probably expect.

leplatypus I was very happy to see the ending credits. There was nothing absolutely unforgettable in this flick.The locations: a gloomy nightclub in LA, where the dancers don't even give a show. But, as the director would say, the choice was not made to shoot their art (à la "Showgirls") but to tell their life.Next, the story: Inexistent. We saw the private and desperate life of those women but there is no dynamic, no drama. It is like a collection of small vignettes. The more interesting are the Hannah's one, because she plays a naive dumb character. The acting: the choice for uncharismatic actresses but good improvisers is really interesting for the director, not for the audience.In conclusion, the real "Dancing at the blue iguana" isn't directed by Radford but by Hannah. Her documentary is a fine work and succeeds where the movie always fails. The direction has a good tempo, the real strippers are touching. Thanks to the DVD!!!!

DS95 I'm going to be brief and succinct. (I have been advised that brevity is not permitted, I have had to pad my comments to satisfy the website rules) I loved this film and all the actress' performances. They made the risky choice of portraying the sleezy world of strippers & stripping.My sister was a stripper and on many occasions I had to contact her at some of the clubs she worked. These places made my skin crawl, the smells were overpowering. (I will avoid description.) All were located in Southern California near the airport.Everything in the film was accurate and well represented. However, the corruption was a bit glossed over.I strongly recommend that everyone who has had a daughter, sister, mother or friend involved in this creepy business, to rent the film and watch it.Many times in the past, I had tried to discourage her from continuing in this field but her response to me each time was, "Can you make over $1,000 a week at what you do?"Fortunately, after three breast implants (bigger and better for more tips), and ultimate body breakdown, she has since retired 2 yrs. ago at the age of 52. She still looks good but she has NO Social Security to rely upon. However due to class action suits against the breast implant people she has managed to run a business on the big island in Hawaii.