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DVD A Dirty Shame (NC-17 Rated Theatrical Version)
When prissy, prickly Sylvia Stickles (Tracey Ullman) suffers a head injury during a traffic altercation, she's, er, revived by self-appointed sexual missionary Ray-Ray Perkins (Johnny Knoxville) and is transformed into an insatiable, take-no-prisoners sex maniac. Yes, it's a John Waters film. Yes, it's filthy. No, it's not as hilarious and sustained as you'd like it to be. It works for a while, though: Ullman, never a stingy comedienne, does everything Waters dares her to do without hesitation; words cannot describe the perversely sporting delight with which she mounts a water bottle during a round of "The Hokey Pokey" at an old folks' home. And there's some fun to be had when Sylvia's emancipation leads her Baltimore 'burb to new heights of ecstasy, freeing her large-breasted daughter Caprice (Selma Blair) while horrifying husband Vaughn (Chris Isaak) and her hardline mother Big Ethel (Suzanne Shepherd, hysterical) in the process. It's also packed with the standard cameos, the most satisfying of which is good old Patty Hearst at a Sex Addicts Anonymous encounter. But, for all the nasty, necessary glee, the movie feels inescapably been-there-done-that, and you can't help but wish this was 1972 and Divine was on hand to prowl for dog droppings. The most shocking thing about A Dirty Shame is how desperate and tiresome its anarchy becomes.--Steve Wiecking
Review(s): DVD A Dirty Shame (NC-17 Rated Theatrical Version)
Not funny says it all.
I've enjoyed Water's movies for some twenty plus years and some of his earliest still sting to this day however his better movies all had one thing in common and that they were funny. A Dirty Shame has some clever ideas and made watch-able thanks to the brilliant Tracy Ulman but its qualities end there. The timing is off, the acting is not hammy or amateur enough for the campy dialogue the results are a flat dull movie that looks for humor in characters that consider themselves addicts. Sex addicts, drug addicts are either that funny. Water's has always had a way of lifting the low-life to a heroic status here they are just boasting outcast wallowing in their addictions.
Idiotic
My extremely low opinion of John Waters work, and particularly the later, higher budget stuff, has absolutely nothing to do with his subject matter. It has everything to do with his inability to write a script and to direct a movie with any coherence whatsover. The only funny moments in this film, or any of his other films, is when an actor of Tracy Ulman's abilities brings something inspired to his tired collections of idiotic potty jokes and strained attempts at outrageous sexual humor. These moments make up about 1 percent of his films, if that. Awful. I guess he keeps getting money to make this garbage becasue people keep buying it, and all power to him for that.
John Waters gets down and dirty again
The generous behind-the-scenes piece (at over an hour and twenty minutes, it's almost as long as the movie!) ultimately made me like this movie a little more than I did initially, because seeing and enjoying all the enthusiasm and good-naturedness that abounded on the set couldn't help but make me feel a little better about the movie itself, but in the end "A Dirty Shame" is still probably closer to my original assessment: it's pretty much a two-star movie with a small handful of hilarious four-star moments that definitely make it worth at least a look. But if you do decide to check out the film on DVD, definitely get the NC-17 version that was seen in theaters; if you get the R-rated version, those few hilarious bits that put the movie over the top end up on the cutting room floor. So, get the adult version... you and your spouse can handle it. Just make sure little Jimmy and Jenny are safely tucked away in their beds before you hit the "play" button. Actually, you may want to kick your older teens out of the family room, too, when you watch it, unless you have a REALLY relaxed household. You've been warned.
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