Directed by Lorene Scafaria
Jennifer Lopez isn't a character actor but she keeps playing the same character in her movies: a beautiful, proud, hardworking, single Mom kept in her place by The Man. This time Lopez isn't a maid or wedding planner but the impossibly hot leader of a pack of plucky strippers scheming to even things up with their rich customers. Problem is the movie's trailer doesn't have just the best parts of the movie in it, it's also got the all of energy the movie needs. The actual movie feels long, drawn-out, cheap and icky, kinda like a bad lapdance.
Lopez hasn't gotten any better as an actor over the years but she's starting to look a lot like Eva Mendes, who's a slightly better actor. She's still in good enough shape to manage some ridiculous fetish scenes (rolling around in money, teaching her shy coworker how to pole dance). She's still defensive about her image, defying the W.C. Fields rule of never acting with children. She probably signed on for a gritty script and then slowly softened it, thinking her characters need The Child, The Fat Friend, The Help that Jen's maid/wedding planner/stripper is kind to. They help soften and simplify an image that should be getting harder (and more interesting) with age.
