generationofswine Honestly, I think the disdain here is two-fold, it's certainly an experimental film and Sasha Grey was in porn.In fact, she was sort of the name in porn...I mean, Rolling Stone did a feature article about her.But the thing is, she can act. She's no Brando, but she does a decent enough job to not hate her and actually appreciate some of what she does. Some fine tuning, she might have something going for her...aside from the dubious reputation of Rolling Stones "Dirtiest Woman on Earth" And then "Soderbergh's Experimental Crap" label...kill a guy for trying something new? I get bored putting together little pieces of pottery and checking the crosses to guesstimate a date. Sometimes I long for an ancient bedpan or two just to shakes things up.I'm sure the same goes for Hollywood, and sure, when you try something new its hit or miss...but then I'm getting to the point in my old age where "The Girlfriend Experience" looks more entertaining than another "Oceans" movie and...really, if it strikes out I didn't spend my money to watch the same old film again.In this case he kind of struck out, but it is 2009, its not exactly like you have many choices at the box office these days.Do I want to go see more Aliens and Robots blowing things up, do I want to go see a remake, or do I just want to chill at home and watch "Dog Day Afternoon" again? Oh, wait, Soderbergh's got something that's not exactly like everything else, it's worth a shot.

glenjordanspangler The StoryChelsea/Christine (Grey) tries to balance her relationship with her boyfriend (Santos) with her ambitions to grow her business as a high-priced call girl in Manhattan. She offers the full "girlfriend experience": she listens to her clients talk about themselves, eats with them at the restaurants of their choice, sees whatever movies they want to see and then has sex with them. She convinces herself that it's a mutually respectful business arrangement, and makes major life decisions based upon "compatible" birthdays.In trying to shoot it documentary-style, Soderbergh makes The Girlfriend Experience look like a student film. In casting a recently-retired porn star (Grey), he centers the film around someone who is guarded and seemingly out of touch with her own emotions, as Chelsea would be, but who would need more acting experience, training and, perhaps, time away from her old business in order to show us what we really want to see: the dramatic falling-away of Chelsea's facade, revealing Christine. I was glad, though, that Soderbergh did not exploit Grey as he might have: aside from a brief flash of nudity we see only her acting. There is no porn here, soft-core or otherwise.Why you should see itIn spite of the movie's flaws and limits, it is an interesting character study, and you'd like Grey to continue to make films whose titles you can say in mixed company.Why you shouldn't see itYou're too young. Move on or I'll tell your parents!--from my review at www.1man365movies.com

Moushou If you like me, did not notice the director before watching this you will have a much fairer opinion of this garbage.The life of a high class NY escort is presented in past/present cuts which trick you into thinking there is some suspense - this is a huge flaw and I would have certainly given it a higher rating than 1/10 if the film was not so.For someone who earns upwards of 1000$ a night you'd think she would be a good judge of character, or at the very least she would be able to spot someone who is trying to "use" her, well you would be wrong to think that, that particular part of the movie is so bad, that if this were a real call girl, you could pay her with candy corn to sleep with her and she would still give you change back.There are random shots of the streets of NY as if this were a documentary of some sort, they feel so out of place that you're left wondering why they're there, it clearly isn't a documentary.To completely bore you, the movie has a strong political presence too, discussing the upcoming election - all this does is make it feel outdated regardless of when you watch it. Again totally unnecessary, if you really needed to show people worrying about money couldn't you just give them a bad habit Stephen? What on Earth possessed you to include boring dialogue about "the economy"? This is a shrimp cocktail dumped over spaghetti carbonara, except it's made by Gordon Ramsey, so some people are bound to like it even though it tastes awful.

chrisallinson-767-285971 This disappoints hugely and I know why - Soderbergh and his bunch of family-guy buds who wrote/produced this have no concept whatsoever of what the escort-business is about: highly socialized prostitution! They clown around with a way too young and unsophisticated porn star (dress-up doll as a call-girl) like a bunch of puppies. 'Escort' is very sophisticated and serious business and has been covered very well in: 'Half Moon Street' and 'The Man from Elysian Fields'. Soderbergh should stick to the hand-held gritty stuff he does so very well: Sex, Lies and Videotape, Out of Sight, Erin Brokovitch, The Limey, Traffic, et al. He is totally out of his depth here - an embarrassment. Reminded me a bit of his miss with the quasi documentary: Full Frontal. Then it struck me - Soderbergh is attempting to fill the shoes of Robert Altman, whose docu. ensemble pieces were superb: Nashville, The Player, Short Cuts, A Prarie Home Companion - even Mash held the right balance of ensemble v. star power.Steven directs star-power very well: Julia Roberts, George Clooney, JLo, Catherine & Michael, Benicio, Terrence Stamp, etc. There is no one with even a pulse in this sad spectacle.