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Revision as of 15:10, 17 April 2013 by 155.135.55.229 (talk) (→Plot)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) For the New York actor's club, see The Players. 1998 American film| Players Club | |
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 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Ice Cube |
| Written by | Ice Cube |
| Produced by | Patricia Charbonnet Carl Craig Ice Cube (also executive producer) |
| Starring | Bernie Mac LisaRaye McCoy-Misick Monica Calhoun Jamie Foxx |
| Cinematography | Malik Hassan Sayeed |
| Edited by | Suzanne Hines |
| Music by | Frank Fitzpatrick |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date | April 8, 1998 |
| Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5 million |
| Box office | $23,261,485 |
The Players Club is a 1998 comedy/drama thriller film from New Line Cinema starring Bernie Mac, LisaRaye, and Jamie Foxx. Ice Cube, who has a small role in the film, wrote and made his directorial debut. The movie made $5,894,607 in its opening week. Its box office grossed total came to $23,261,485
Plot
Diana Armstrong (LisaRaye), a young, unwed mother struggles to make enough money to pay for her college education. Diana ends up working at a shoe store, when she meets Ronnie (Chrystale Wilson), and Tricks (Adele Givens), two shady bisexual strippers that work for Dolla Bill (Bernie Mac) at The Players Club. They convince Diana she would make better money stripping, by saying "use what you got to get what you want". Dolla Bill gives Diana a job giving her the name Diamond. Everything is fine until four years into the game her cousin Ebony Armstrong (Monica Calhoun) comes to live with her. After listening to Dolla's rendition of "The Strippin' Game", she starts working at the club.
Ebony soon gets out of control, excessively drinking, staying out all night and getting more influenced by Ronnie and Tricks, who encourage Ebony to do more out of club parties for groups of men. Diana tries to warn Ebony to stay away from "those two" and quit doing house parties, but Ebony declines being told what to do, choosing to ignore Diana's advice as well as coldheartedly reminding her about the time when Ronnie sexually took advantage of Diana when she was passed out at a previous party. Further tension develops between Ebony and Diana when Diana returns home one night after fleeing her obsessive customer Myrin, to find Ebony in bed with her boyfriend Lance. Diana chases Lance out with her gun, and kicks Ebony out of her apartment.
Diana then begins dating Blue (Jamie Foxx), a DJ at the Player's Club. Meanwhile, Ebony is offered a gig to dance at Ronnie's brother Junior's (Samuel Monroe Jr.) bachelor party, under the pretense from Ronnie that other girls from the club will be dancing there too. When she realizes that she will be the only woman there in a hotel room full of hungry men, she desperately tries calling Diana to come and pick her up, but Diana doesn't, still being mad with her. Reggie (Ice Cube) and his friend Clyde (Alex Thomas), both feeling dissed by Diana and Ebony from a previous encounter, lie to Junior that Ebony will have sex with him, claiming that they "ran a train" on her. Excited, Junior bursts in on Ebony while she is changing. Ebony resists and Junior beats and rapes her. Ronnie discovers this and they both flee the hotel room. Later, Diana has a change of heart and she and Blue decide to check up on Ebony at the hotel, only to discover her bloody and unconscious body on a bed.
This proves to be the last straw to Diana, who was growing tired of the stripper game anyway. Angered, she grabs her gun and goes to the Players Club, where Ronnie and Tricks are hiding out. After scaring the other strippers away, Diana gives the gun to Blue to cover her while she gets into a brutal fistfight with Ronnie and ultimately wins, leaving Ronnie a bloody mess. She personally quits in front of Dolla Bill, punches Tricks and leaves along with Blue. Ronnie and Tricks are arrested by the police on charges of rape of Ebony and Diamond and Junior has been picked up as well. Later that night, Diana's timing proves to be perfect when a gangster who Dolla Bill owes money to, the wheelchair-bound St. Louis, comes to collect. He personally shoots up the club (though he does give warning to the customers beforehand, allowing them to leave). After his thugs grab Dolla and throw him into the trunk of a car, St. Louis has his henchman Brooklyn (Charlie Murphy) destroy the club with a LAW rocket.
A year passes afterward and Diana has moved on with her life. She's gotten Ebony a job working at a shoe store. She continues to date Blue, and has become a successful news anchor of the city.
Cast
- Bernie Mac as Dollar Bill
- LisaRaye as Diana "Diamond" Armstrong,
- Monica Calhoun as Ebony
- Jamie Foxx as Blue
- Chrystale Wilson as Ronnie
- Adele Givens as Tricks
- Anthony Johnson as Lil Man
- Faizon Love as Officer Peters
- John Amos as Officer Freeman
- Charlie Murphy as Brooklyn
- Montae Russell as Lance
- Ice Cube as Reggie
- Samuel Monroe Jr. as Junior
- Alex Thomas as Clyde
- Terrence Howard as K.C.
- Luther Campbell as Luke
- Tiny Lister as XL the Bouncer
- Michael Clarke Duncan as Bodyguard
Soundtrack
Main article: The Players Club (soundtrack)A successful soundtrack was released on March 17, 1998, peaking at #10 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. It featured artists such as Ice Cube, DMX, Master P and Jay-Z, among others.
Box office
The movie debuted at No. 5. It went's on to gross $23,047,939 Domestically, and $213,546 in Foreign Markets. For a total Lifetime gross of $23,261,485.
Trivia
- This is the second time Bernie Mac and Ice Cube have worked together. The first was Friday and the third time was Ice Cube guest starring on The Bernie Mac Show.
- This film marks the screen debut of LisaRaye.
- This was Bernie Mac's first starring / lead role.
- The first time Ebony is introduced Lance and Jamal are in the living room watching Friday as Diana was studying. Ice Cube, Bernie Mac, Faizon Love, Tiny Lister and A.J. Johnson starred in Friday.
- In the scene where Officers Peters and Freeman are looking for Dollar Bill. Lil' Man tells Officer Freeman "You look just like the father from Good Times". John Amos, who plays Officer Freeman, actually played James Evans on the show for three seasons until the character was killed off.
- This is the first time that Jamie Foxx and Terrence Howard worked together, the second being the film Ray. This is also the first time that Howard and Mac worked together, the second being the film Pride.
References
- "Budget".
- "Box Office". Box Office Mojo.
- "City of Angels' Takes Wing in Heavenly Opening Weekend". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-29.
- "Players Club Domestic Box Office". Han_Man.
External links
((Ice Cube))
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