Grab a beer and gather your five-dollar bills because Jennifer Lopez returns to the big screen in Hustlers, and she’s too good for your filthy ones. The film, directed by Lorene Scafaria, is based on a viral New York magazine article about a group of strippers who got rich by drugging and scamming wealthy Wall Street honchos, essentially the she-wolves of Wall Street (which is obviously a better title). But even though it’s a time-consuming task to get to know the pole, Lopez did it in a six-week crash course (we’re guessing those J-Lo buns had something to do with it). Since it’s hard to find a good stripper movie that honestly and accurately depicts the lives and work of exotic dancers, we did the digging for you. These are our favorite tasteful movies about strippers, perfect weekday desk reading.
Cover Photo: STX Entertainment
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Stripper Movies
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'Flashdance'
Jennifer Beals as Alex Owens in Flashdance was the first on-screen stripper many a man born in the '80s and '90s saw before internet porn took off.
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'From Dusk Till Dawn'
Salma Hayek played a python-clad stripper vampire in this action-horror film written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Robert Rodriguez. Hayek overcame her fear of snakes for the role and completely improvised her sultry serpentine strip tease.
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'Closer'
Natalie Portman donned a pink wig for her role as Alice, a sly and secretive American who gets fucked over by more than one man in this indie gem. During a stripping scene, she breathily speaks the best line of the movie: "Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off. But it's more fun if you do."
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'The Wrestler'
Strippers get old. Oh, yes, they do. But their moves don't. Marisa Tomei played a tough, middle-aged exotic dancer who's seen it all in this critically acclaimed drama. Tomei has said she enjoyed picking out lingerie for her role and even used clip-on nipple rings for extra authenticity.
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'Planet Terror'
Rose McGowan played Texan go-go dancer Cherry in this sci-fi horror flick. Things really get dicey after a zombie eats her leg and she has it replaced with an assault rifle prosthetic. Meow.
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'Sin City'
Jessica Alba played Nancy Callahan, a stripper with a cowgirl-themed act from the Sin City comics, in this violent 2005 Richard Rodriguez film, and again in its sequel nine years later.
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'Independence Day'
Vivica A. Fox worked the pole as Jasmine Dubrow-Hiller, a stripper who narrowly escaped annihilation in this runaway sci-fi comedy hit. The character later gave up stripping to study nursing and became a hospital administrator.
Photo: Twentieth Century Fox
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'Welcome to the Rileys'
In this indie drama, Kristen Stewart played a 16-year-old stripper befriended by a middle-aged couple grieving the loss of their daughter.
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'We're the Millers'
Jennifer Aniston played a stripper recruited to be a fake wife to Jason Sudeikis' pot dealing character in this crime comedy.
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'I Know Who Killed Me'
When Aubrey Fleming (Lindsay Lohan) resurfaces after being abducted and tortured, she claims to be a stripper named Dakota Moss. Is she suffering from amnesia or is this a case of mistaken identity? Oh, who cares. You didn't come for the plot, you came for the dancing.
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'Striptease'
Demi Moore played a divorced mom who takes a strip club gig at the Eager Beaver (we kid you not) to finance a custody fight with her ex-husband over their daughter in this tawdry crime drama.
Photo: Castle Rock Entertainment
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'Showgirls'
Actress Elizabeth Berkley went from an innocent Saved by the Bell high school student to ruthless Las Vegas stripper in this poorly written (but well-choreographed) film.
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'Magic Mike'
When you hear "stripper," you probably think of women. Magic Mike might change that. The story about Mike Lane (Channing Tatum), a roofer who moonlights as the main attraction in a male strip act, was based on Tatum's real-life stripping experience.
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'The Full Monty'
If you thought you had to have youth and an enviable body to be a stripper, think again. This hilarious British film focuses on a group of middle-aged and out-of-shape men who take up stripping when they fall on hard times.
