The Players Club

Starring: LisaRaye McCoy, Jamie Foxx, Bernie Mac, Dick Anthony Williams, Ice Cube, Chrystale Wilson, Adele Givens, Anthony Johnson, Monica Calhoun, Charlie Murphy, Terrence Howard, John Amos, Michael Clarke Duncan, Master P
Directed by: Ice Cube
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama
1998

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A woman (LisaRaye McCoy) works as a stripper while she tries to navigate the ups and downs of the profession to launch herself into a better life.

Review:

Tim: I think it's telling that after making his directorial debut with The Players Club, Ice Cube never directed another movie (this is as of 2018, twenty years later). His only other directorial effort was an episode of a documentary television show, 12 years after this film. That could mean a lot of things, but it's obvious no one was all that interested in Cube directing another film after this one. That's because The Players Club is a mess of a film. It's a chore to sit through. Ice Cube can only blame himself, as he wrote and directed the film. He also appears in a small role, but he doesn't have much to do in front of the camera.

My biggest problem with this film is that none of the characters were all that interesting. I suppose it might have been a good idea to write a film about the people who inhabit a strip club. I'd imagine it attracts some diverse, odd characters. We certainly get a lot of characters here, but none of them are all that compelling. The characters feel weak and not fully fleshed out Some are so thin that you can almost see through them- they're mere caricatures. The script really needed to excise a bunch of characters so we could spend more time with fewer of them. As is, the large cast always feels ineffective because too few characters get the proper screen time.

LisaRaye McCoy probably gives the best performance of the film, which is sad because she's not great and it was a very early career role for her. I felt like McCoy really tried, you can see the effort she puts into her performance. Her character is generic and boring through. She's a stripper, but a good mom, a good person, and she's stripping to put herself through school. I'm not sure you could create a more cliched character. McCoy tries, and although she might be the best part of the film, it's not enough to really move the needle. Bernie Mac was awful. His performance had no subtlety to it. He wasn't funny, he was absurd in his over-the-top performance. Jamie Foxx was decent- he has a few funny moments. His character starts out as a background, unimportant character before being pushed into the limelight towards the end of the film. It didn't quite work well. We really needed to spend more time with his character earlier if he was going to matter in the third act. I was surprised Ice Cube took the role he did. He doesn't have a lot to do, but his character does the most despicable thing in the movie. It was an odd choice to take this small but unlikable role. It was fun seeing Michael Clarke Duncan here. Apparently Terrence Howard was in the film, but I don't think I recognized him. Really, the cast isn't great and that's because the script and their characters are so disengaging.

The film's pacing is off and there are so many unimportant subplots. I see what Ice Cube was trying to do with the script, but it makes so little sense. Bernie Mac's character should have had his screen time slashed. Ice Cube should have wrote his character out of the film. Too many characters makes the film feel too cluttered. I really wasn't sure what I was supposed to care about for the whole first hour. Was this a movie about McCoy's character? Was it just a general ensemble movie with no lead? What was the point of it all? Eventually, you understand the point of the movie, but it takes far too long to get there. It does culminate in a memorable and hard-to-watch scene. Maybe there's a lesson there? I hope it's something deeper than "Make the money, don't let it make you". But, that may be it.

Ice Cube certainly is talented, but The Players Club was a clear misfire. The movie is too boring, too cluttered, unfunny, and ultimately not entertaining enough. This is a movie that I easily could have skipped.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5


If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Friday