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The Center of the World
Directed by	Wayne Wang
Produced by	Wayne Wang Peter Newman
Written by	Wayne Wang Miranda July
Starring	Peter Sarsgaard Molly Parker
Cinematography	Mauro Fiore
Editing by	Lee Percy
Release date(s)	April 19, 2001
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Center of the World is an American film directed by Wayne Wang, digitally shot, released in 2001. It stars Peter Sarsgaard as a Dot-com millionaire who hires a drummer/stripper (Molly Parker) to stay with him in Las Vegas for three days for US$10,000. The film was screened out of competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.^[1]

Internet executive Jason Calacanis consulted on, and appeared in, the film.

Plot

A couple checks into a suite in Las Vegas. In flashbacks we see that he's a computer whiz on the verge of becoming a dot.com millionaire, she's a lap dancer at a club. He's depressed, withdrawing from work, missing meetings with investors. He wants a connection, so he offers her $10,000 to spend three nights with him in Vegas, and she accepts with conditions: four hours per night of erotic play, and no penetration. During the days in Vegas, they get to know each other, have fun, meet a friend of hers; at night, at least after the first night, things seem to get complicated. When the three days are over, the stripper makes it clear that she was only there for the money and that the man she spent the time with was just a client. Upset that the feelings he had weren't mutual, he returns home heartbroken. The movie ends with his return to the strip club to see the woman he fell in love with again. She greets him fondly and says that she is glad to see him again. Because the movie is shown in a non-linear format, it is left to the viewer's interpretation of when this event occurred. One could choose to believe that the visit to the strip club occurred before the trip to Las Vegas, in which case the couple went their separate ways and never saw each other again, or one could believe that the couple met after their trip to Las Vegas and made another attempt at a relationship.

Cast

• Shane Edelman - Porter
• Peter Sarsgaard - Richard Longman
• Molly Parker - Florence
• Karry Brown - Lap Dancer
• Alisha Klass - Pandora Stripper
• Mel Gorham - Roxanne
• Lisa Newlan - Porn Site Woman
• Jason McCabe - Pete (as Jason Mccabe Calacanis)
• Travis Miljan - Dog Owner
• Jerry Sherman - Old Man
• Carla Gugino - Jerri
• Pat Morita - Taxi Driver
• Balthazar Getty - Brian Pivano
• Robert Lefkowitz - Motel Manager
• John Lombardo - Gondolier

Popular and critical reception

The film opened to mixed reviews, and has been compared to movies with similar "hooker in love" storylines such as Exotica and Pretty Woman. The Center of the World is more explicit than the said films, containing both female and male full frontal nudity, as well as a penetration shot of a lollipop in a vagina.

References

External links

• The Center of the World at the Internet Movie Database