Club Lingerie

You can't look at this movie as the next "Citizen Kane." Sure, it's low budget. Yes, it doesn't take itself seriously. True, the performances weren't "Oscar worthy" (many scenes look like they were shot in one or two takes). But all of these things are part of the movie's charm. In fact, I wasn't expecting to like this movie as much as I did.

It has a slew of offbeat, eccentric characters, including: the "cult film goddess" Bouvier (the club's owner), a girl on skid row, an old dude on all fours getting whipped by a dominatrix, a hyper fire-and- brimstone preacher, a transvestite discoursing with a puppet/Muppet (it's random, but it works), a detective and a crime photographer that look like they were pulled out of a 40s film noir, and a plethora of hot girls in lingerie (one of my favorites--played by Sydney Raye-- has a tantalizing strip tease to make her abusive boyfriend jealous).

I was surprised that the "lingerie girls" had so much natural charisma on screen and were decent actresses. Yes, it's a "murder- mystery," but it's actually a laugh-out-loud comedy that's a nod to the sleazy "sexploitation" films of the 60s and 70s. It's a throwback to the type of movies that John Waters shot with Divine before he went "mainstream" (what he affectionately called his "Trash Trilogy"). It's not meant to be taken as a "serious, highbrow, big-budget movie." It's campy, exaggerated, fun, and outrageous. I thought it was a hoot!