What's a movie you would recommend for the way it helps you appreciate or understand strippers or strip clubs? (Not that we need help.) Thinking very broadly about relevance here. No need for the movie to include strippers or strip clubs or nudity. (If it does, that's okay, too.) Also, let's try to make this more than just a series of "Angelina is so awesomely bodacious in this flick" posts or "because she reminds me of my ATF".
I'll start with: Before Sunrise, 1995 (Not to be mistaken with 'Before Sunset', a sequel from 2004) Starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy A very simple story that takes place in the space of 24 hours, almost entirely consisting of dialogue between the lead characters. It's about the poignancy of fleeting relationships and the urgency of taking chances when the opportunity is there. The kind of thing that sounds like it would be pretty sappy, but it's really not at all. I've seen this called the 'Casablanca' of our time, but it's way way way more low key. It really reminds me of the kind of interaction that can develop in the course of an evening with a stripper you strongly connect with (without the stripping or lap dancing parts). In some ways, it might have been better with less of a pretty boy lead, but Ethan Hawke is so good I almost forgive him for marrying Uma Thurman.
'Closer' began as a play on Broadway with Natasha Richardson. In spite of my enthusiasm for her as an actress, it was deadly boring (all I remember is some internet typing projected on a screen) and bore no resemblance to the movie whatsoever. It may be the raunchiest part Julia Roberts will ever play, and directed by Mike Nichols who goes all the way back to the Graduate in '68. If you like Clive Owens he plays another psuedo-bastard in an excellent English film called 'Croupier'. A nice meaty tale of lives on the edge in the gambling world-separated by less than six degrees from our favorite obsession.