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Center of the World

EMAILPRINTArtisan Entertainment

Center of the World reviews
44
7.0 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 24 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 2 votes
Read user comments
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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)

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...

88

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.

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75

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Like "Tango," Wang's film also seeks to uncover whether sex without emotion is really possible, or worth the effort.

70

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Wang is working on your mind, not your body.

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70

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

It's also about pain, which both tempers and complicates the eroticism.

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70

Variety Dennis Harvey

A fairly sexy, serious-minded drama hobbled by its lack of real conceptual ambition.

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63

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.

58

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Too arty by half.

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50

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.

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50

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.

50

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.

50

New York Post Lou Lumenick

It certainly has its moments (erotic and otherwise), but there just aren't enough of them.

50

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.

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50

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?

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50

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.

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50

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.

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40

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

Offers nothing but tired "Red Shoe" Diaries-style sexploitation for the art-house crowd.

40

Film.com Robert Horton

In this case, I have to say, the sense of boredom.

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40

Village Voice Jessica Winter

Hysterical but inorganic, lacking blood, sweat, or tears.

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40

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.

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30

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

The dance he (Wang) ended up with is on the wrong lap.

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25

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.

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20

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.

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20

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.

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20

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Drowning in uncharted waters and way off-center in any world.

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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.

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