A Dirty Shame | ||||
John Waters Tracey Ullman, Johnny Knoxville, Chris Isaak, Selma Blair, Suzanne Shepherd, Mink Stole, Susan Allenback, Paul DeBoy, Wes Johnson, Alan J. Wendl, Patricia Hearst 2004 |
A lot of humorless prudes are offended and/or disgusted by the oeuvre of writer/director John Waters. It'll happen again with "A Dirty Shame," a farce about sex addicts taking over a Baltimore neighborhood. Waters a droll fellow, best known for the film comedy and hit stage musical "Hairspray" makes humanitarian statements in his work as he embraces vintage kitsch and gleefully pushes the gross-out envelope. While not as filthy as his signature movie "Pink Flamingos," "A Dirty Shame," with its sex-positive message, is wilder and raunchier than anything that Waters has done in years, and it's jammed with laughs. Waters has made less naughty films, such as "Cry-Baby" and "Serial Mom." That may explain why respectable, mass-appeal performers comedienne Tracey Ullman, pop singer Chris Isaak and actress Selma Blair were willing to be in "A Dirty Shame," which tracks like a weird sex-education film-cum-religious parable. It's no shock to see leering Johnny Knoxville ("Jackass") here as a truck driver/self-proclaimed sexual healer. But how surprising to find Ullman as a repressed housewife who turns into a vulgarity-spouting harlot after a blow to the head, Isaak as her frustrated husband, and Blair as their freakishly endowed daughter. Wacky archival clips, a randy pop-music score and Blair's phenomenally realistic latex breasts are bonus features in an already entertaining package. | |||
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