An uncomfortable attempt at fantasy

Rating: 4/10 (10 August 2001)

Though I understand why so many people love this movie, I couldn't help but experience I creeping sense of unease when I saw it. The attempt to idealize what is really one of the most sordid, unappealing professions in America seems not only to undermine all the efforts to date to eradicate both the demand for prostitution and the seemingly Cinderella-esque appeal of prostitution, but to stroke our collective consciousness into a false sense of inculpability. Admittedly most of the people watching the movie do not directly relate to either of the two poles in the movie, the downtrodden Julia Roberts nor the fairy-tale prince Richard Gear. This means that the situation portrayed is more easily accepted as a fairy tale than real life, but for those more practically acquainted with the all-too-real world of prostitution, this movie is a slap in the face and a reminder that a story like Roberts' could never happen outside the fairy tale world.
If Julia Roberts were living in the real world of prostitution, she would be a bleary-eyed smack addict unconnected and unconcerned about her clients. The only way she might make a real profit off Richard Gear would be if her pimp collected extortion from him and gave her a cut.
Take it from someone who's been there. The world of prostitution is no fairy-tale.