Rent The Centre of the World (2001)

Incredibly dull and un-sexy - The Centre of the World review by CP Customer

The basic idea of the film is quite good, take a lonely dot com millionaire and an emotionally withdrawn stripper, stick them in Las Vegas for three nights and see what happens. Despite a brief blip where the character of Florence (Molly Parker) questions her feelings for Richard (Peter Sarsgaard), nothing much happens within the story. At the end of the film both characters are essentially the same people they were when they first met. Richard is still lonely and Florence is still emotionally withdrawn. The director (Wayne Wang) provides no back story as to why both characters are they way they are, neither does he allow the characters to develop so the viewer can empathise with them in any way. And the ambiguous ending just adds to the confusion (although within the DVD extras there are three alternate endings, which give some closure to the story). At the end of the film all the viewer feels is that Florence is nothing more than a whore who will do anything for money, and Richard is socially immature and thinks money can solve all of life’s problems. Quite possibly one of the worst films I have ever seen. If you want to see something similar with a more engaging story and better acting try Nicolas Cage’s Leaving Las Vegas.