1/5 Boring.
  by A. J. Dickinson
This movie was boring. It was a waste of my money and time. I would not even recommend watching it if you could borrow it for free. STAY AWAY!

5/5 Unfairly Underrated Movie about Sex, Naivete & Self-Delusion
  by W.Kim (Los Angeles, California United States)
Arguably the most thematically serious film I've seen where a stripper was a lead character, director Wayne Wang's "The Center of the World" stars Richard (Peter Sarsgaard) as a software millionaire who offers $10,000 to Florence (Molly Parker - the widow in "Deadwood"), a drummer in a struggling band who makes a living as a stripper) to spend three days with him in Las Vegas, setting the stage for a story about the collision between fantasy and reality: the fantasies upscale prostitutes sell to their clients and the weird mix of naivete, simple lust and a desire for connection that a john might bring to their relations - and the reality that these relations are little more than a transaction of the starkest sort. Even more interesting for me was the balance Wang brings to the narrative: their changing points of view get almost equal time in the story, adding a bit more depth to the film than I expected.

In an interview, director and co-writer Wang (" Thousand Years of Good Prayers, Smoke, Joy Luck Club") makes an interesting comment about how the film had it's genesis in a visit he made to the Silicon Valley area, where, at the time, there was a serious imbalance in the gender ratio of the areas' population, something akin to eight or more single men to every single woman. And with all the ready money in the post dot.com-bust economy of the time, gave rise to a huge market for strippers, call girls and dating services.

The film didn't have the strongest reception from the critics, which I thought was undeserved. Wang and his co-writers, Paul Auster ("Smoke, Lulu on the Bridge") Miranda July ("You Me & Everyone We Know") did a great job getting into the characters heads and the performances of the leads is some of the best work I've seen from either actor. Carla Gugino (the first Silk Spectre in "Watchmen") also has a supporting role as a long time friend of Parker's character.

[...]

1/5 The Center of SUCK!
  by W. Kelly (Iowa)
This movie is way over priced. I wish I had just rented it from the local movie store first. But even $2.99 may have been to much. Wish I had my $25 and 2 hrs of my time back!

4/5 Sex, Power, and Let's Not Be Coy About It.
  by mirasreviews (McLean, VA USA)
In 2000, director Wayne Wang changed his pace from studio-supported movies to make a low-budget film about sex and power. "The Center of the World" was his first digital film, shot alternately on a Digi Betacam and Mini DV. Most critics didn't like it, but it is a rare film that deals with sex as frankly as this one, an unflinching exploration of the costs and consequences of sexual power. And this is a sexy film. There is a lot of sexual game-playing in it. My only complaint is that the Mini DV used in so many of the intimate scenes and close-ups brings out too much detail and makes the actors look sallow. This was before the days of HD DV, so the quality leaves something to be desired.

Richard (Peter Sarsgaard) is a twenty-something technology entrepreneur whose hard work and dismal social life have made him co-owner of a company about to go public. He's going to be rich, and he'd like to enjoy himself. He is attracted to Florence (Molly Parker), a woman who frequents a local coffee shop. When he finds out that Florence is a stripper, Richard offers her $10,000 to spend three nights with him in Las Vegas, thinking this is an agreeable way to make his fantasies come true. Florence accepts, on the condition that there will be no intercourse. "It's all an act. You know that, right?" she says.

Richard is used to being master of his own world, building a company and a fortune from behind a monitor and keyboard. Florence makes a living with her power to inspire men's imaginations and fulfill their fantasies while maintaining distance and control. Richard and Florence like each other, and their arrangement seems mutually beneficial. They have lively conversations about mundane things...until the power game becomes a power struggle. To what extent did Richard's fantasy become reality? Most women would not act as Florence does; strippers are very conscious of boundaries. But does her unwillingness to cede power undermine her own interests? "The Center of the World" is unpredictable and provocative.

The DVD (Lions Gate 2001): Click on "Explore Me" to find a teaser, a trailer, 2 alternate endings (12 min) that I think are superfluous, bios and filmographies (text) for 10 cast and crew members, "Behind the Cyberscenes" (5 min), which is about creating the now-defunct interactive web site for the film, and Production Notes (text) that include comments by the director and actors. Click on "Tell Me Now" to hear audio commentary by director Wayne Wang and post production consultant Patrick Lindenmaier. This commentary is for 7 segments of the movie only. Choose a segment from the menu. Commentary is about technical issues, primarily how the "look" of the film was achieved and working with DV. Also click the "play" icon at the bottom to hear an audio-only comment by Wang.

4/5 Center of the World
  by J. S.
As a stripper, I expected to relate closely to this movie (even though I would never meet a client outside of the club). I was not disappointed. The role of the female protagonist (stripper) was obviously created with respect for the character, and the film did a good job of making an obvious division between her "real" and "night" lives, which many "stripper movies" fail to reveal. It also does a surprisingly good job of showing the storyline from two, opposite perspectives (without any sort of split-screen narratives): both the stripper and her customer have well-thought-out, dynamic, complex roles.

The female protagonist does a fantastic job of showing the dichotomy between her "real" and "stripper" lives, and the director was smart to include a transformative scene where the actress changes herself in order to fit a different role (by applying make-up). Too often, strippers are portrayed as sex objects who are always "on," rather than the normal people we (often) are. This was refreshing.

So it's a pretty short movie, but the acting is very good, and the director/writer seems to have been informed about the industry, for I found it to be relatively authentic compared to most representations out there. Stripper-movie-junkies will find that this is not the typical stripper movie where women are scaling poles in the background at all times.

As a side note, you might wonder, upon viewing the film, if something is wrong with your TV screen, but you will quickly get used to the unique, grainy look of the movie. In my opinion, it actually adds to the authenticity the director is attempting to portray.