Product Details

• Actors: Shane Edelman, Peter Sarsgaard, Molly Parker, Karry Brown, Alisha Klass
• Format: NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Lions Gate Home Entertainment
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000063K39
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #608,720 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The titular center of the world is a matter of perspective in Wayne Wang's (The Joy Luck Club, Smoke) notorious, explicit drama of emotional isolation and sexual commerce in the modern world. According to rich, apathetic cyber-geek Peter Sarsgaard (Boys Don't Cry), it's his home computer. Amateur rock & roll drummer and part-time stripper Molly Parker (Wonderland) deems it an erotic part of the female anatomy. Their "date" is merely a sexual contract that takes them to Las Vegas, a place as phony and impersonal as their so-called romance. "You know it's just an act, right?" she reminds him between her slinky bump-and-grind striptease shows and their sweaty sexual gymnastics.

The Internet makes a great metaphor for modern social alienation, with its impersonal communication and virtual sex, but there's not much else new in this familiar story other than the erotic content. Shot on dimly lit, high-definition video, the gray, washed palette sucks the glamour and titillation right out of the spectacle, turning it into an empty, soulless exercise in physical sensation and self delusion--appropriate to this story of lonely souls unable to break through their own isolation. --Sean Axmaker

From The New Yorker

Explicit, eyeglass-fogging sexual games from the director Wayne Wang. A nerdy, rich Silicon Valley computer engineer, Richard (Peter Sarsgaard), pays the beautiful freckle-faced stripper Florence (Molly Parker) to accompany him to Las Vegas for a three-day weekend. She agrees but with many conditions (no kissing on the lips, no penetration, strictly limited business hours). Richard is paying, but he wants feeling and emotion; Florence wants nothing but control. The movie, shot with a handheld digital camera, has a dreamy surface and the aura of a reverie, but there's also a bit of suspense floating in the erotic cloud: will Richard get Florence to respond to him? A friend of Florence's named Jerri (Carla Gugino), who is her opposite in every way-dark, fleshy, needy-threatens to take the movie to a dangerous place, but she storms off, leaving the two inarticulate principals to mop up. Written by Ellen Benjamin Wong, working from a story by Paul Auster, Siri Hustvedt, Miranda July, and Wang. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

139 of 148 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A dialog heavy film about sex and love, December 23, 2001

By 

Nick G - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Center of the World (DVD)

Borrowing a part of it's plot from `Indecent Proposal', `The Center Of The World' manages to be a sexually charged, and erotic film, one that may surprise some viewers because it was an American made movie.

The deal is simple...Richard, a computer genius (Peter Sarsgaard) offers Florence, a struggling musician/stripper (Molly Parker) $10,000 to spend the weekend with him in Vegas, but before she says yes he must agree to her terms...no kissing, only meeting between the hours of 10pm and 2am, not getting personal and absolutely no falling in love.

With these rules laid out in front of him Richard agrees even though he plans on making her love him.

The story of Richard and Flo unfolds slowly, but as the characters are developed the viewer realizes the pair are searching for the same thing...love.

Molly Parker gives an intimate performances of a woman looking to find herself, and get past her fear of intimacy, and Peter Sarsgaard does a great job as Richard, an empty young man looking to make his life complete.

Although sexually explicit in spots (the lollipop scene must be seen to be believed) `The Center Of The World' never becomes cheap or porno-ish. And bravo to Ms. Parker and Mr. Sarsgaard for being brave enough to take on roles that required them to be fully nude in several scenes.

Anyone looking for a sex movie should look elsewhere, for the power of this film lies in it's two main characters. Those looking an artsy/erotic movie will enjoy this.

Nick Gonnella

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better Than Expected, May 29, 2002

By 

"vinces" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Center of the World (DVD)

This film is about two people who have compartmentalized their sexuality. At issue is whether they can overcome their neurosis, their alienation from their own humanity. The answer is, no, it can't work, just as the woman (Florence) knows all along but the man (Richard) has to find out.

We never learn what has caused their alienation but it's not important. In the case of Richard, a successful computer geek, it is at least part of what has enabled him to immerse himself in work (some people believe that working long hours away from people have caused his neurosis but that is less likely). In Florence' case it enables her to earn her living performing lap dances for strangers. In both cases their coping mechanism is reinforced by its success.

Florence is more aware of her coping mechanism and therefore realistic about it. Richard, suffering from over work, loneliness, the pressure of an impending IPO and the recent death of his father hasn't got a clue. He meets Florence, learns that she is a stripper and invites her to a weekend in Vegas. After being turned down he offers to pay for her company (!). She is hip and knows nothing can come of this even after she later develops conflicting feelings.

The "exotic" dancing is at least erotic, a lot more than I can say for the films, Exotica, Dancing at the Blue Iguana, Showgirls and Striptease. That's probably because there was at least a psychological connection between the two characters. I did feel sympathetic to them unlike anyone in those other films. The woman is at her sexiest when she is fully clothed and beaming straight into the man's eyes, lending proof to the adage that sex is 90% psychology.

...

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dysfunctional Relationship At Its Best, May 14, 2001

By 

Hansol Lee - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

A millionaire pays a stripper to spend a weekend with him in Vegas and they eventually (well, sort of) fall in love? If you are thinking "Pretty Woman", you couldn't be more off. "The Center of the World" is more reminiscent of "Leaving Las Vegas" with a hint of "Exotica", "Last Tango in Paris" and even some "In the Mood for Love". This movie starts off slowly and frequent flashback scenes are more than a little annoying at first, but it gets more and more interesting (and disturbing) as the story progresses. The cast is superb and the director Wayne Wang does his best Wong Kar-Wai imitation (and falls short, but hey, there is only one Wong Kar-Wai). The soundtrack is also excellent.

For those of you who are concerned about the film's "unrated" status: yes, it contains a lot of sexually explicit scenes, but it's nothing you haven't seen before, and it's all done quite tastefully.