A DIRTY SHAME
Reviewed by Harvey S. Karten
Fine Line Features
Grade: C
Directed by: John Waters
Written by: John Waters
Cast: Tracey Ullman, Johnny Knoxville, Chris Isaak, Selma
Blair, Suzanne Shepherd, Mink Stole, Susan Allenback, Paul
DeBoy
Screened at: Regal Union Square, NYC, 9/24/04
I'd like a dollar for every member of the American audience
who says, "I'm no prude, but...." Like them, I'd say that a good
sex farce is as uplifting as a bold, feel-good blockbuster.
"American Pie," for example, is a classic of the subgenre. Paul
Weitz's warped look at four guys who vow to lose their virginity
by the night of the high school prom makes room for raunchy
gags made by and about characters who are recognizable–if
you recall your own days as an adolescent. "A Dirty Shame" is
bold enough to merit its deserved NC-17, but while there's
absolutely nothing wrong with a little raunch or even a lot of it,
the near-interminable repetition of sight gags (the biggest boobs
in town, nay, the world for one woman), buckets of double
entendres such as "yodeling in the canyon," a few fleeting
moments of full frontal nudity for members (so to speak) of both
sexes, all become tiresome, outliving their welcome even in a
pic that clocks in at barely an hour and a half.
"A Dirty Shame," written and directed by John Waters
("Hairspray," "Polyester," "Pink Flamingos," "Pecker") embraces
the signature features of the man at the helm. You could not
mistake his movies for anyone else's. He utilizes the full talents
of Tracey Ullman as his lead character, a performer known for
magnetic presence on screen stage and TV. Many look fondly at
the skits she tackled in her own show in which she took on the
several identities like a victim of a split personality–her funniest
being that of a twelve-year-old girl. In "A Dirty Shame" Ullman
takes the role of a repressed wife, Sylvia Stickles, who would
rather wash dishes than fulfill the normal marital needs of her
husband, Vaughn (Chris Isaak). Surprisingly her genetic
material does not transfer to her daughter, Ursula Udders
(Selma Blair) who realizes her gift and exhibits herself regularly.
When Sylvia leaves her car, which has stopped for lack of gas,
she hits her head, which transforms her into a nymphomaniac.
She is introduced by the tow truck driver, Ray-Ray (Johnny
Knoxville), who already has eleven "apostles" of eroticism and
considers Sylvia to be the twelfth.
The central conflict in the story is the struggle between acolytes
of the twelve horney apostles and the town's Taliban-ish Big
Ethel (Suzanne Shepherd), the latter going door to door urging a
town meeting for the purpose of doing something to stop
massive pervasion in her section of Baltimore. By half time,
though actual sex acts are only simulated, including one
conducted by two animatronic squirrels, the picture becomes
too numbing to be recommended outside the Waters cult.
Waters has made a successful career channeling his rebellion
against his Catholic upbringing and his mocking of everything
his mother cherished. Some say that he has moderated his fury
in the past ten or fifteen years, pointing out "Serial Mom" which
traveled beyond the man's cult following. This would be news to
people who take in "A Dirty Shame," and six members of the
audience bolted form the theater within fifteen minutes after the
film began..
"A Dirty Shame" has the Waters cinematic trademark, a small
world of bright, pastel colors, in this case punched up by an
early sixties soundtrack. The Waters cult will not be
disappointed, but the rest of us could not be blamed if we take a
fond look at a DVD of more credible stuff like "Road Trip."
Rated NC-17. 89 minutes © Harvey Karten
at harveycritic@cs.com
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