The Players Club . Nashville Scene . 04-20-98

The Players Club

DIRECTED BY: Ice Cube

REVIEWED: 04-20-98

Retro-nuevo blaxploitation from first-time writer-director Ice Cube, who has some flair for raunchy comedy. Too bad this is a drama. In this soggy old-school grindhouse flick, a single mom (newcomer LisaRaye) works her way through college doffing her duds at The Players Club, a third-rate strip joint. As written and acted, the women characters might as well be cardboard cutouts--except cardboard has more depth than the movie's conniving rape-bait cousin and the obligatory ELP (Evil Lesbian Predator). And somebody oughta tell Mr. Cube that heavy-mitted moralizing doesn't mix with pole dances.

But the club itself has its moments. It's a tawdry milieu out of inner-city folklore, populated with enough sleazy hustlers to stoke a Rudy Ray Moore slab, and the movie's pretty entertaining when it's hanging with the playas--especially the mushmouthed Staggerlee-wannabe owner (Bernie Mac) and his supercilious sidekick (A.J. Johnson). Whenever they're not onscreen, the movie plays like an afterschool special that sternly cautions against ho'ing--even as it fixes its beady eyes on the merchandise.

--Jim Ridley

Capsule Reviews
The Players Club
The Players Club

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