Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Richard Longman (Peter Sarsgaard) is a dot com meteor on the rise. He's alone and depressed. He talks to Florence (Molly Parker) at his coffee place who turns out to be a stripper. He offers her $10k to spend three days in Las Vegas with him. He lays out the terms where they spend four hours each night but with limitation. He starts falling for her. Her local friend Jerri (Carla Gugino) is a card dealer.This could have been a simple two person erotic play following in the footsteps of "Last Tango in Paris". Sarsgaard and Parker are very capable actors. It wouldn't be breaking any new grounds but it would still be interesting to see the actors try their best. Sarsgaard definitely has the sadness but he doesn't strike me as a nerd who needs to pay for a girl. That guy is too beautiful to not have a dozen girls chasing after him. Director Wayne Wang is unable to deliver anything visually compelling other than some memorable erotica. The mixing of lower grade indie cinematography is distracting. In the end, this doesn't really get there.

"I've noticed how sharply the word money resembles the word violence." – Antjie Krog An underrated erotic drama by director Wayne Wang, "The Centre of the World" stars Peter Sarsgaard as Richard, a dot-com millionaire who runs into Florence (Molly Parker), an attractive drummer/stripper."The Centre of the World" initially seems to be indulging in familiar prince-meets-hooker clichés (eg "Pretty Woman"). Wang, though, has other things on his mind. In his hands, both Richard and Florence are alienated by their professions. He hides behind modems and monitors, rarely meeting people face to face, she has strict "no touch" policies. Both prefer to remain at a professional distance, creating avatars or fabricated facades when dealing with others. Significantly, Richard believes "machines" to be the "center of the world", the computer coder believing in a very masculinist, controlling view of people and relations. Florence believes the opposite: women (the feminine, the vagina) are for Florence the "center of the world", around which everything revolves. This assumption grants her, she believes, power over men. Control.Power and control becomes the preoccupation of the film's second third. Here Richard hires Florence for a weekend. He will pay her ten thousand dollars to be his escort. Florence, perceiving herself to be submissive in this relationship, attempts to exert some power of her own. She lays down some rules: no touching, no kissing, no sex and the couple will only be together for a strict late-night window. Richard consents. He's just a passive guy, he tells her, genuinely loves her and has no wish to force her to do anything against his will. Florence doesn't believe him.What constitutes "real" or "simulated" love/lust becomes the preoccupation of the film's final third. Like most films of this ilk, Richard misreads Florence's "performances" and "simulations" as "real affection"; she genuinely likes him, he thinks. Florence, of course, says she doesn't; it was just an act. Richard is left confused. What's original about the film is this: Florence genuinely does love Richard, but will not allow herself to acknowledge or act upon this love. For Florence, the couple's relationship is inherently objectifying, demeaning and social relationships mediated by money, or economic relations themselves, are intrinsically violent. For Florence, Richard's just another boss. Another employer. And as long as he's paying, she's forced into submission and dependency.Scientists and philosophers have spoken for millenia about power-empathy gaps and the dehumanisation engendered by economic relations. But Richard does not see himself in this light. He is a "nice guy" and genuinely wants to "give generously, out of love" (or genuinely believes he does). When Florence rejects him, Richard then vengefully becomes a caricature of what Florenence perceives him to be. He turns her over and violently has sex (rapes?) with her. Ironically, this merely affirms Florence's own prejudices (correct assumptions?)."The Centre of the World" ends with two symbolic scenes. In the first, Florence masturbates before Richard, and explains that "this is what genuine love is". For Florenece, the act is honest and not tainted by the conscious or unconscious power games or depersonalising desires of others. The film then cuts to a strip-club, in which Florence and Richard meet once again. Brilliantly, Wang has each character now fully embrace their "customer"/"provider", "master"/"whore" roles. Richard pays, Florence dances, end of story. Their transaction is impersonal, cold and each now perceives themselves as being in control. Unlike the rest of the film, which is shot in raw, intimate digital photography, these sequences are shot on dreamy celluloid, amplifying the couple's now-explicitly acknowledged games of fantasy.Most of the big auteurs had key films "about" prostitutes/prostitution (Godards's "Vivre Sa Ve", Passolini's "Accatone" and "Salo", Bunuel's "Belle de Jour", Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut", Kiarostami's "Like Someone in Love" etc). Wang's "The Center of the World" is smaller, like a stage-play, but unfolds with the grimy, sexy ambiance of a Abel Ferrara movie ("Go Go Tales"). Sarsgaard and Parker are excellent in their roles.8.9/10 – See Antonioni's "Beyond the Clouds".

There's a reason this movie is unrated. The criteria for an R rating are likely overstepped. Seriously, all one needs to do to get a sense of what you're going to be watching is read the IMDb full storyline. Common sense prevailing, you know you'll be seeing nudity, erotic scenes, and that's why most will choose to see the movie. Yes, there's a fairly good character study story developed and both Molly Parker and Peter Sarsgaard do a good job of delivering performances that make it such. But let's face it, I'm not the only one that decided to view the film for the character study… as an afterthought. Carla Gugino thrown into the mix helped seal the deal for me. I have to warn the prospective viewers that you'll be seeing as much, if not more, of Sarsgaard's bottom than that of Parker's. I wonder if that could be considered a double spoiler.

If you decide to rent this film or catch it on HBO (which seems to run it several times a month these days), know up front that it is uneven and ultimately doesn't really end up anywhere interesting. The writer/director Wang was trapped with only two possible outcomes, granted. But after the level of trust his performers put into him, he owed them and us something more satisfying than where the movie takes the audience. However, the performance of Molly Parker makes watching this film more than worth the failings of the script.No one, NO ONE, came close to what she does in this film that year. If you have any respect left for the choices the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members, not to mention most of the critic groups, don't watch this movie. The fact that Parker was completely overlooked, while Julie Robert's over-hyped, far-short-of-spectacular turn in ERIN BROCKOVICH got the accolades, shows what total rubbish these critical popularity horse races really are. In CENTER OF THE WORLD Parker gives an astoundingly brave performance. Yet it is the nuanced, subtle touches that show the viewer her character's shifting attitudes that make it such a stand-out job. Without a single line of expository dialogue to illuminate the internal one, one can follow the character's struggle to maintain the control she thought she had on her own emotions. The idea that some young people have the wisdom of adults without having had the experiences to form that wisdom and what happens when they face situations that test them in a similiar fashion is very intriguing. Its a shame the film cannot match the effort Parker puts into it. Peter Sarsgaard does a 180 degree flip from his turn in BOYS DON'T CRY and while not as amazing as Parker, he does fine job too. His character is more of a now stock one: the brilliant guy with immature sexual development.But above all else, bravo Ms Parker, BRAVO!