![]() And then a strong underpinning of economic reality, as Diana works hard to pay her bills and is encouraged by a professor after she finds herself falling asleep in class. There's the documentary stuff, the crime story, Diana's shaky romance with a new boyfriend, Ebony's problems, and comic relief from the stylized dialogue of Dollar Bill and his doorman, L'il Man (A.J. What's interesting about "The Players Club" is how it moves through various tones and kinds of material. Ice Cube uses strong dramatic intercutting to build suspense in a scene where Ebony, hired as a dancer at a bachelor party, is uneasy to find there aren't any other girls there. She wants to keep Ebony away from the club, but "Ebony jumped head-first into the lifestyle," and soon Diana, who has drawn the line at prostitution, finds that Ebony treats it more like a career goal. (A lot of people get shot at in the movie, but I don't think anyone ever quite gets killed.) Problems for Diana begin when Ebony ( Monica Calhoun), her 18-year-old cousin, comes to stay with her. Louis wants his money, Dollar Bill doesn't have it, and at one point Bill is inside a car trunk, and we think we know what has to happen next, but the action tilts toward farce rather than tragedy. Louis, a gangster who is owed a lot of money by Dollar Bill ( Bernie Mac), the club's fast-talking owner. Onto this semi-documentary material is grafted a crime story involving the mysterious St. "The first dance is degrading," Ronnie ( Chrystale Wilson) tells her, "but you get used to it." Her advice: Don't look at the customers, look at yourself in the mirror. ![]() The film is knowledgeable about details of the clubs: the camaraderie of the dancers, the flamboyance of the owner and grandiloquence of the doorman, the way the bartenders and the disc jockey keep an eye on the action, and the needy absorption of the customers. ![]() They are correct, but the money comes at a price. Then she meets Tricks and Ronnie, two dancers at the Players Club, who tell her there are ways to make a lot more money. Pregnant and jobless, she moves away from home, gets a job in a shoe store and is fairly happy until her child's father wants "more space," and abandons her. The movie stars a convincing newcomer named LisaRaye as Diana, who has a fight with her father over what college to attend.
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