Review of Striptease (1976) by Jake C — 21 Jul 2018

Whatever clever satirical bent this may be aiming for-something supposedly feminist about an atypical anti-heroine standing up to the man writ large, from corrupt politicians to corpulent stalkers to crappy employers-the movie misses the mark by a long shot.

The ideas are unfocused and thinly sketched, lacking the precision needed for well-balanced satire, and the screenplay is dead in the water, just a jumble of scenes and words that barely scrape together a coherent narrative.

By and large the supporting cast, when they clue in to what film they should be making, hit the right tone-especially Reynolds, who is the very definition of a buffoon, a practically classical portrayal of political power gone stupid-but the biggest problem lies right at the heart of the film with Moore.

Everything rests on her character and her performance, and with the exception of the dance sequences-the best bits of the film by far, thanks in no small part to Moore's considerable dancing skills-Moore is just too dour for this semi-comic material.

Yet what is worse, and where the film fails most spectacularly, is in the very character that Moore plays: While the filmmakers obviously imagine her as some sort of feminist firebrand, defending her daughter and rebuilding her life, the fact is that she is only seen through the male gaze, reduced to being the contradiction of both madonna and whore.