The microbudget comedy “Ten Tips” pairs a final efficiency of a burned-out magician (Albie Selznick) with the erotic goings-on of the brothel close by. The movie follows a madam, Grace (an earnestly crafted flip by Lea Thompson), in her last-ditch effort to develop into pregnant, and intersperses slapstick scenes of her prostitutes servicing shoppers with magician-related plot for comedic reduction in between.
The veteran casting director Richard Pagano (“X-Males: The Final Stand,” “Resort Rwanda”) wrote and directed the movie, tailored from his play of the identical title that debuted in Los Angeles in 2003. The movie model, set in a nonspecific current time and shot in black-and-white by the cinematographer John Bailey, feels decidedly caught up to now. Pagano makes frequent use of silent film-era-style intertitles, which pinpoint the important thing dialogue from a scene prematurely solely to finish up highlighting the script’s incapability to face by itself. The mishmash of an incessant, distracting musical rating additionally fails to offer first-aid.
The movie deluges viewers with cringe-worthy moments sourced from dangerous stereotypes, like a “loopy” Asian prostitute and a Pakistani buyer made to appear like Aladdin, who’s into the Kama Sutra.
The film additionally serves as a textbook instance of the male gaze; the one male brothel employee is excluded from the nudity and hyper-objectifying digital camera angles, which the movie traffics in relating to the ladies. And regardless of her sturdy effort, even Thompson can’t ship the movie’s try at a three-dimensional feminine protagonist.
There may be really no magic right here.
Ten Tips
Not rated. Operating time: 1 hour 28 minutes. Watch on Fandor.