JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH

US, 2001, 95 minutes, Colour.
Jonathan Aube, Shelley Malil, Peter Nevargic.
Directed by Dave Payne.

Just Can’t Get Enough is a film about the origins of the Chippendales, the male strippers. At the same time there was another telemovie, The Chippendale Murder, with British actor Naveen Andrews as Steve Banerjee.

This is a rather sleazy version of a sleazy story. The origins of the Chippendales came in clubs in Los Angeles, the work of an Indian entrepreneur, Steve Banerjee (Shelley Malil). As his clubs progressed with the male strippers and the women came to the clubs during the 1980s, he was involved in some criminal activities and money laundering, hiring thugs to do his dirty work.

While the film shows his story, especially his manic possessiveness and wanting to control everything, especially when choreographer Nick de Noia came in, persuaded him to give him the rights for the travelling Chippendales and made millions, he ordered his murder. When some of the dancers decided to set up by themselves, he also ordered their deaths.

The manager of this criminal activity milked Banerjee of hundreds of thousands of dollars, demanding five hundred thousand, for instance, for his mediation and then merely giving the hired Hispanic assassin a couple of thousand dollars. Eventually, the two fled to Paris where the manager was wired and the police arrested Banerjee. Having discovered that when somebody dies, United States law entitles his family to inherit everything (so that Nick de Noia’s family inherited his empire), he decides to commit suicide so that his wife will own everything.

In the meantime, the film focuses on a character, Chad Patterson who has an MBA and ambitions for management. He has a girlfriend, Heather. However, he gets a job at the Chippendales club as a manager and the two split up. The film shows his ‘progress’ in working for Banerjee with the continual promise of a managerial job. Banerjee exploits him in photography as well as on calendars. He then wants him to dance. There are a number of other men whose stories are told briefly, some with self-esteem problems, some with drug problems, some with brutality problems.

The film is peppered with many dance sequences – geared very much for an American television audience and therefore somewhat restrained. However, it shows the frantic behaviour of the average American woman when she lets herself go at these clubs. It is not always an edifying sight.

The film also shows the permissive life of the dancers – contrary to some opinion that the dancers should have no contact with the clients. In this case, they are virtual gigolos.

The film is of interest only as giving some kind of background to the Chippendales, Steve Banerjee’s career, the ethos behind such strip clubs.