Go (1999) Starring: Katie Holmes, Sarah Polley Genre: Crime / Comedy MPAA Rating: R Director: Doug Liman Screenplay: John August Runtime: 103 minutes.

PLOT:
This Pulp Fiction-esque non-linear movie by Swingers director Doug Liman is made up of 3 intertwined stories told from 3 perspectives, in a sort of rave/ecstasy version of Rashoman. If you like Katie Holmes (Disturbing Behavior) or Sarah Polley, you'll probably like the first story. The second story takes place with 4 guys in Vegas, a strip club and a car chase. What more do you want? The third story is a little weak, IMO.

In the second story (yes, the one with the strip club), Simon, our grocery store bagger, wannabe middleman drug dealer and party animal sets out to Vegas with his 3 friends. After arriving in Vegas, Simon calls Todd, his L.A. drug connection and asks which strip club to go to. Todd tells him to go to Crazy Horse.

After having sex with 2 girls, setting the room on fire and stealing a Farari, he and Marcus decide to go to Crazy Horse. Note that this is the now defunct topless Crazy Horse in Vegas, and not Crazy Horse 2. From the looks of it, the production used the real club in March 1998 before it was closed down.

Before entering the club, Marcus tells Simon (white boy on the right) not to order champagne because that's the password for getting an expensive private dance. I don't know how Crazy Horse used to work but several clubs in Vegas (especially clip joints) work in this way where the "dancer" would ask if you want to buy her a very expensive bottle of champagne, implying that you may get more than just the drink. What you get is just the drink, if even that. So it appears that Marcus knows his clip joint techniques pretty well. Unfortunately, Simon doesn't.

As they enter the club, there is a cashier at the entrance, very similar to the Crazy Girls in LA. I don't know if this is the real setup at Crazy Horse but it looked realistic. First thing we see are 2 dancers dancing on the main stage with a runway and 2 poles. Our boys walk over to the bar to get their drink. I often use this technique, especially at topless bars because I can take a little more time figuring out what to order or where to sit. Some clubs in Vegas will not let you do this. A waitress will seat and take your order as soon as you walk in the door.

Even before our boys can take a look at the dancers on stage, 2 of the club's hottest (and probably their biggest money makers) walk over straight out of the private room area. Their names are Holly (Tane McClure, daughter of Doug McClure) and Noelle (Nikki Fritz on the right). Both of these girls have done a lot of B-movies playing strippers and have the typical Hollywood big boob-job stripper look. As Nikki's stage name hints, she used to work at Fritz in Bellflower when she was not busy playing strippers in movies. She has played lead roles in lessor movies but this is a relatively big part in a main-stream type movie. Even though this movie was originally an inde-movie, Columbia bought the production company so it was actually like a real movie production.

This double trouble combination talks Simon into a private room dance faster than you can say "can I touch your..." Before our boys have even paid for their drinks, they follow Noelle and Holly into the back private dance room. A cowboy and a dancer is coming out of the room as they enter.

The bouncer asks Simon for a major credit card before entering. He isn't charging the card yet, just to hold for payment later. Except perhaps for the VIP area at Club Paradise, I don't imagine that they would take credit cards as collateral for dances at a strip club. If they don't charge on it, it could easily be stolen or maxed out. But this is sort of explained in a later scene when Vic, the owner tells his son, the bouncer that he should have checked them better. Perhaps the bouncer thought they looked like VIPs. In any case, personally, I would not trust a bouncer at a strip club to hold my credit card while I get some lap dances.

The bouncer tells the boys to let the dancers touch, but do not touch the dancers in any way. The way the bouncer warned Simon was realistic and I've gotten this speech myself at more than one club in my life. Mostly, the bouncer is just trying to scare you so you don't cause any trouble.

Our boys enter the lap room which has just 2 chairs that are back to back with brass armrests with handles. I guess the customer is supposed to hold on to the handles to make sure he doesn't touch the dancers. Marcus and Simon get a pretty good topless lap dance. More on this in the DANCE SEQUENCES section of this review.

Unfortunately, Simon can't keep his hands off Noelle (I don't really blame him). See the picture above of Noelle screaming bloody murder when Simon grabs her ass. There are many clubs around where touching is strictly prohibited, especially at topless clubs. However, since they were in a private room, charging good money for laps, the smart move for Noelle would have been to blackmail Simon into giving her more money or she'd call the bouncer. Although the director was trying to show that the way Simon grabbed her ass was pretty severe, it's still doesn't seem to warrant such actions. I almost forgot to mention the little sign above warning the dancers to keep their feel off the chairs. Nice touch, especially the cheap masking tape used for the sign.

When Noelle calls for the bouncer, the bouncer comes in and mistakes Marcus for the offender. She tells him it's Simon and the bouncer kicks his ass. When Marcus tries to intervene, he too get's bitch slapped. However, Simon brought the gun from the stolen Farari and shoots the bouncer in the arm. The blood splatters onto Holly's tits. It started looking like a B-horror movie for a minute there.

The boys escape from a side exit and somehow get their car and escape without being caught. Good thing they didn't valet their car or they would have been toast. While our boys have gun and car problems, the owner of the club, Vic, stitches up his bouncer son as he tells him why he thinks the younger generation is for shit.

Owner, Vic Sr. rants, "You know what wakes me up in the middle of the night covered in a cold sweat? Knowing that you aren't any worse than anyone else in your whole screwed up generation. In the old days, you know how you got to the top? Huh? By being better than the guy ahead of you. How do you people get to the top? By being so fucking incompetent, that the guy ahead of you can't do his job, so he falls on his ass and congratulations, you are now on top. And now the top is down here, it used to be up here... and you don't even know the fucking difference."

I realize this rant was supposed to be taken as a general statement of the condition of the world, but it sure applies well to the strip club industry. During this seemingly important dialog, dancers are dancing topless in the background in the club area. Holly brings Simon's credit card to Vic and they find out where the boys are staying.

When Vic and his son catch up to our boys, there is a great car chase scene which end in Vic getting his car totaled. He's not too happy about that and calls another friend who can trace credit cards. Eventually Vic gets his justice from Simon.

MUSIC:
As you might imagine, with all the rave scenes, there are a lot of techno songs throughout the movie. The soundtrack includes the song New by No Doubt and a cover of the Magic Carpet Ride is perfect during the car chase scene. When our boys first enter Crazy Horse, the dancers are dancing to Lenny Kravitz' Always On The Run. I think that's a great song for a topless club. Once our boys go into the private lap room, they dance to Song For Holly by Esthero/Danny Saber on the soundtrack. I assume this was written for this lap dance scene and it's not bad but it wasn't remarkable enough for me to remember it when I first saw it in the theater.

DANCE SEQUENCES:
Well, there's not much to talk about in terms of the stage dancing but plenty to see in the private lap room. Plenty of time is spent showing how the dancers get the boys in the right mood with flirting, close contact and whispering. Both dancers exhibit great lapping techniques. It also doesn't hurt that Nikki was a real-life lap dancer and I certainly enjoyed watching her great ass being squeezed. That little squeeze is worth the price of the rental.

SUMMARY:
The movie itself is probably great for younger audiences who like raves and taking "E" but perhaps too hip for older viewers. However, the Vegas strip club scene is done very well, and if you like Nikki Fritz, it's worth the rental for that scene alone.

Although the strip club scene is short, what little we see is pretty hot and mostly realistic. No complaints from me.