The Center of the World movie review (2001)

In theory, a prostitute and her client form a closed system, in which everything in their private lives, even their real names, may be kept secret. Because Richard and Flo met socially before entering into their agreement, information leaked out. She knows he's about to make millions of dollars, although all she wants is $10,000. The commitment involved in getting the millions would interfere with her idea of herself. We in the audience get more information because we eavesdrop during their private moments; he deals by e-mail with partners who are enraged that he stiffed the investors and (they hear) is in Vegas with a hooker on the company's biggest day. She calls a Vegas friend named Jerri (Carla Gugino), who gives her technical advice; she tells Jerri she "kinda likes" the guy.

Now look at their sex. Her rules permit action only between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. The rest of the time, they sight-see, visit restaurants, play video games. The sex in theory will not involve intercourse. They have connecting rooms. At 10 p.m. she throws open the doors, dressed dramatically in "erotic" clothes that are pretty routine. She does advanced versions of a lap dance. He wants to go further. "You want real?" she asks. "I'll show you real." What she shows him is real, all right, but scant consolation for an onlooker.

At one point they practice something called "fire and ice," which involves ice cubes and hot sauce, and has been compared by credulous reviewers with the most famous scene in "Last Tango in Paris." The difference is, in "Last Tango" something was really happening between two unpaid and involved participants; in "The Center of the World," it's erotic showbiz. (Show me a sexual practice that involves ice cubes and hot sauce, and I will show you a sexual practice that would be improved without them.) The movie has also been compared to "Leaving Las Vegas," but couldn't be more different. That film was about agony and redemption, and the hooker was a healing angel. This movie is about two entrepreneurs.