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Center of the World
EMAILPRINTArtisan Entertainment

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 24 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 2 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Ellen Benjamin Wong
(story) Wayne Wang
Miranda July
Paul Auster and Siri Hustvedt
Directed by: Wayne Wang
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 18, 2001
DVD: December 18, 2001
Running Time: 86 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: Not Rated
Starring Shane Edelman, Balthazar Getty, Carla Gugino, Shirley Knight, Molly Parker, and Peter Sarsgaard
An erotic drama about a young computer wizard (Sarsgaard) who persuades a beautiful stripper (Parker) to spend three days with him in Las Vegas. Their arrangement becomes a journey into the dark secrets of their sexuality. (Artisan Entertainment)
Also On Metacritic
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Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
If you understand who the characters are and what they're supposed to represent, the performances are right on the money.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
Like "Tango," Wang's film also seeks to uncover whether sex without emotion is really possible, or worth the effort.
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
It's also about pain, which both tempers and complicates the eroticism.
Read Full Review >Variety Dennis Harvey
A fairly sexy, serious-minded drama hobbled by its lack of real conceptual ambition.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Provoke us into examining whether the onus is on the man for turning it into a commercial proposition or the woman for agreeing to his offer.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
Sober and serious and downright glum, ultimately an all-too-familiar portrait of lonely souls unable to break through their own isolation.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Where Mike Figgis' film, with Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue, bore deeply and darkly into emotional territory, The Center of the World turns out to be just as fake as its setting.
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
All Center of the World has is the double entendre of its title, some unremarkable dramatic and sex scenes, and some embarrassing moments for its very game co-stars.
New York Post Lou Lumenick
It certainly has its moments (erotic and otherwise), but there just aren't enough of them.
LA Weekly Steven Mikulan
We should be thankful for the courage of Wang and his cast in standing against a culture that nervously treats sex as either a prurient joke or a puritan crime.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Gregory Weinkauf
For better or worse the movie is simply simple -- the project's quality and significance depend upon one's perspective: Is this a daring and impressive homespun yarn or just a very middling stab at soft-core?
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
Wang's film doesn't really have anything more to say about power, manipulation and the wild unpredictability of sexual energy than "Last Tango" did 30 years ago.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
It's only when he (Wang) slows down and allows the characters to connect emotionally that his movie's unflinching honesty takes your breath away.
Read Full Review >Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard
Offers nothing but tired "Red Shoe" Diaries-style sexploitation for the art-house crowd.
Village Voice Jessica Winter
Hysterical but inorganic, lacking blood, sweat, or tears.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Adults may discover, however, that when they get to the center of this particular world, they find no real there there.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine Peter Rainer
The dance he (Wang) ended up with is on the wrong lap.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
One pities poor Molly Parker, a fine actress who was somehow persuaded to disrobe for this degrading and dispiriting Wayne Wang film.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
All this sadness becomes so depressing to watch, testing the limits of the patience of even a viewer prepared to take Wang's underlying concerns seriously.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
In a culture apparently defined by lap dancing, ersatz architectural sublimity and the virtual contact of cyberspace, how do we know what is real? The Center of the World, for example, is as phony as can be.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
Drowning in uncharted waters and way off-center in any world.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Marcus G. gave it an 8:
This is a movie that wants to seduce you - okay, yes, it has sex upfront and center and some viewers might be standoffish or abashed - but it's really not what you think. (Ignore any snickers from the audience from the outset. Watch it alone if you can't find a like-minded crowd.) This film's real attraction kicks in after the erotica is over and the movie winds down. Because it's at that point you entertain the idea that the movie is not so much a story of sex, or the sex trade, or money or about getting paid or about dirty money or about the shady side of life which so many of this film's viewers may never see. This movie is about everybody's life. In watching it, not only do you witness what the infamous Las Vegas sells its seekers, but you also feel yourself being provoked, titillated and illuminated. Good movies get their audiences involved in different kinds of ways, and this one is so uniquely gripping you may find yourself wondering what exactly it is you've seen. Molly Parker and Peter Sarsgaard are both wonderful and more than memorable.
Chad S. gave it a 6:
Richard (Peter Saarsgard) might've had Florence (Molly Parker) at "you don't look like a stripper." When Richard pays Molly to join him in Las Vegas, he probably doesn't mean to treat her like a whore, because this technological maverick seems posited to be the anti-Richard Gere, and "Center of the World", the anti-"Pretty Woman". After two years of housebound isolation, albeit, productive, Richard is out of practice in the dating game, and thinks that a transaction of money could be the only way a woman might find him attractive. It's clear to us that Florence, contrary to her claim, does fall in love with her benefactor, but she remembers the money and Richard's slight hesitation when he reluctatntly introduces her to a business colleague. Contact with the outside world, temporarily breaks Richard's illusion that Florence is his girlfriend. There's an interesting dynamic at work between Richard and Florence, but "Center of the World", however, billed as an erotic film, features a lot of sex that's neither titilating or romantic; which is a big deal, since we have to believe Richard fell in love/lust with Florence during their sessions.
