DVD Review: Live Nude Girls Unite (C)

Live Nude Girls Unite (2000)
Directed by Vicky Funari and Julia Query
MPAA: UR
Grade: C

Review by Bobby Nashville

Any documentary about strippers is bound to be interesting in one way or another. But while this one certainly had its moments, it ultimately couldn't take things to a higher level, despite some great intentions by the directors.

In 1996, the strippers at the Lusty Lady, a famous San Francisco strip club became fed up with their working conditions. None of them were fed up with the fact that they had to strip, in fact the beginning of the movie focuses on explaining why the girls like working there. The make decent money, most of them feel a certain bit of power from the sexual nature of their gig, and they enjoy the job that they do.

However, working conditions at the Lusty Lady are not the best. They keep allowing people to bring cameras into the booths, and there is definitely some racial discrimination going on. So, they decide to organize into the U.S. First stripper's union. The documentary follows their meetings with union specialists, their bargaining representatives, and their subsequent picketing. What started off as a pretty decent look into the life of some fairly well adjusted sex workers in San Francisco turns into a kind of medium grade "we're on strike" labor documentary. Its great that they organized into a union and fought for their rights, but the battle to unionize in itself is actually a lot less interesting than the people that are doing the unionizing.

Thankfully, the movie is only 75 minutes long. With some of the scenes showing the director doing stand up comedy, and weird animations tossed in for some reason, the documentary starts to lose steam after the first 45 minutes.

If Live Nude Girls Unite was redone simply as a look at the people who work at the Lusty Lady, why they do, and how this affects their lives, this film might have been a bit more entertaining. I know that the film focuses alot on how stripping has affected the director (stripper Julia Query) and that was definitely a good start. Expanding this to include in-depth portraits of the other employees would make for a more effective film.

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