A Dirty Shame
is a
wickedly funny, twisted tale from the mind of the notorious John
Waters about a suburban war in Baltimore
between a cult of sex addicts and conservatives. The sex addicts
are led by a “sexual healer”, a Christ like figure, called Ray-Ray
Perkins (Johnny Knoxville) who also happens to be a tow truck
driver. He is searching for his twelfth apostle so that he can
discover an unknown sex act that would set the whole world free of
conservative thinking and open it to sexual awakening. He has
powers that allow people to reach unknown heights of sexual
bliss. One day while sitting in traffic receiving oral sex (but
of course), he sees his twelfth apostle, Sylvia Stickles (Tracey
Ullman).
Stickles is a
grumpy, frustrated middle-aged housewife married to a dweeby but
devoted husband, Vaughn (Chris Isaak), with a daughter, Caprice (Selma
Blair), who strips at the local bars and has breasts the size of beach
balls. Stickles hates sex and wants nothing to do with her husband’s
advances. One day while driving to work, she gets in a car accident
and bangs her head violently. She wakes up in her car a changed woman
(Ray-Ray does a little magic with his tongue to help her fully
transform); she instantly becomes a sex addict. And not just a normal
sex addict, she is the twelfth apostle who holds the key to Ray-Ray’s
majestic search for the unknown sex act.
It’s not long
before the sex addicts (who engage in the most bizarre sexual acts out
there, there’s one sex addict for each crazy fetish) start to take
over the neighborhood; they start having sex everywhere trying to
liberate the rest of the neighbors. The conservatives, called the
Neutors, retaliate and organize under the lead of Sylvia’s mother and,
before long, there is a full out war going on in this small suburb of
Baltimore.
CRITIQUE
This is one
seriously wacky movie but what else would one suspect from John
Waters. Waters has had a few tamer films lately (like Pecker),
but this one brings him back to his old anarchist ways. He makes
films like these to push the envelope as far as humanly possible, and
in doing that he loses something along the way each time…an audience.
Although Waters has a large fan base, there will be no crossovers
after this film. A Dirty Shame has that Water’s trademark:
nasty, gross out humor and completely out there characters mixed with
a strange sweetness. It has some very funny moments and a fascinating
story but this film is like a great half hour skit turned into a
repetitive, frivolous film only for fans of John Waters.
The acting is off
the wall and outrageous, and it just happens to be the best part of
the film. Knoxville is hilarious as Ray-Ray inhabiting the character
with his unique anarchistic style that makes this character incredibly
engaging and funny. This film finally makes the right use of his
distinctive charms. And Tracy Ullman is such a gifted comedienne who
uses her gift for inhabiting different characters to truly get the
most out of her character’s back and forth transformations from sex
addict to conservative. Selma Blair is also quite good showing that
she can act in prosthetics (ones that happen to be two gigantic
breasts). The three main actors have so much fun with their
characters it’s hard not to have it rub off a bit. The supporting
cast is somewhat all over the place, Waters uses his normal gang of
actors in the supporting roles save a few and they are quite an odd
bunch. The best supporting role is that of Chris Isaak who plays the
stunned, conservative husband.
Waters is
definitely a creative and interesting writer and director and this
film is no different. He proves himself a gifted director behind the
camera and his script is maybe too off the wall, but it still has some
great moments. The whole film is just too hit and miss, there will be
one or two jokes or gags that are truly hilarious and then too much
time will go by with little else but oddness and depravity.
THE VIDEO
The enhanced
transfer presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio looks terrific with no
noticeable problem spots and very clear and lucid color tones. There
are many scenes staged at night, which sometimes can cause issues, but
these posed no problems here.
THE AUDIO
The audio is
presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and it is quite clear and crisp, the
balances are perfect and the surround is active and clear.
THE EXTRAS
All the Dirt on
A Dirty Shame – This is a very funny, oddly put together documentary on
the making of this film. It really goes all over the place as far as
subject matter and includes cast and crew interviews with all the main
actors and Waters himself. It spends a bit too much time on some of
the supporting cast, since they’ve starred in most of Waters films,
they have some funny insights into the man but I really wanted a bit
more with
Knoxville and Ullman. They discuss all of the different sex acts in
the film, which makes for some very funny conversation. It’s a bit
too long but it is definitely entertaining.
Commentary from
Director John Waters – Waters discusses not only the inception and creation of this film
but also talks in detail about some of his other films and
experiences. He is quite an interesting guy to listen to, very
engaging and intelligent with a true depth of knowledge of film. This
film was actually conceptualized after Waters read an article about
people experiencing an intense sexual arousal after getting
concussions. From that article, he came up with this whole wacky and
interesting tale. Love him or hate him, he is definitely a talented
guy and he is a joy to listen to.
Commentary with
Waters production team – This is commentary from a group of Waters frequent collaborators
like his production designer, costume designer, producers, props guy,
etc. This one is a little painful to sit through. They have some
funny back-story and interesting tales about working with Waters but
after 10 minutes that novelty wares off and things don’t get much more
interesting. The Waters commentary is so good I have no idea why they
created this one. I think Waters is a little too nice to his crew;
this one should never have been included.
Deleted Scene
– There is just one deleted scene (it’s really a blooper) but it is
extremely funny. Some films have a load of deleted scenes/outtakes
and all of them are garbage, but this one is a gem. It involves
something very sinister coming out of Knoxville’s jeans.
FINAL THOUGHTS
A Dirty Shame
is a funny concept with some hilarious moments and some truly
energized performances, but there is just not enough here to sustain a
whole film. The film drags and becomes repetitive and has to rely on
only the sick humor and gross out gags.
