Wednesday, November 23, 2022

My Review of Welcome To Chippendales: "An Elegant, Exclusive Atmosphere"

 


Written by Robert Siegel
Directed by Matt Shakman

Steve (to Paul): "There are a million strip clubs for men in Los Angeles and yet not a single one for women."

Hulu seem to be on fire with their miniseries this year and after a successful enough venture with Pam & Tommy at the start of the year, Welcome To Chippdenales seems to be something of an interesting way to end the year. 

Based on the book Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders, this opening episode of an eight part miniseries certainly got the ball rolling with giving us a rundown of Chippendales creator Somen 'Steve' Banerjee (Kumail Nanjiani). Steve was a man who didn't want to own a garage. He had bigger ideas and over $44,000 to name but not all great ideas come at once.

Nope, instead Steve started off with several bad ideas that nearly brought him to ruin and collaborating with night club promoter Paul Snider (Dan Stevens)and his Playboy bunny wife Dorothy Stratton (Nicola Peltz) definitely proved to be something of a mixed bag for Steve. Fortunately a night out in a gay bar actually provided a good idea for Steve.

As Steve was right to point out, men have plenty of strip clubs to get their rocks off but women do not and with Dorothy affirming that women like to look at attractive men with barely anything on. As a result, the Chippendales was born and Steve had a success story for the ages. Thongs for Paul and Dorothy on the other hand took a very dark turn by the end of this episode alone.

Throughout the episode, Paul's jealousy towards other men desiring Dorothy led to Paul fatally killing both of them in a brutal act largely shown offscreen as Steve reveled in his success with the Chippendales. I'm surprised they did this so early in the miniseries but I don't doubt there's bigger stuff to be covered in the remaining episodes.

Notably Steve's other partnership with Emmy winning choreographer Nick De Noia (Murray Bartlett) of Unicorn Tales fame. Nick was quick to whip Steve's men in shape when Dorothy wasn't suggesting their signature look and he certainly got theses guys into shape as well. That cowboy routine alone certainly cemented a success for both Steve and Nick and given what's ahead, it's going to be interesting to see how this partnership will go very badly for both men.

- Steve talked about the name coming from an inventor when explaining it to Paul. 
- Other businesses we saw were backgammon, mud wrestling and oyster eating, all of which were a disaster.
- Standout music: Hot Stuff, I Was Made For Loving You and More, More, More to name a few.
- Chronology: 1980 for the majority of this episode.

An Elegant, Exclusive Atmosphere did a strong job opening up this miniseries. Some strong performances from Kumail Nanjiani, Dan Stevens, Nicola Peltz and Murray Bartlett. Yup, this certainly got things off to a good start.

Rating: 7 out of 10

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