DIRTY SHAME - DVD review

Author William S. Burroughs once dubbed John Waters as "The Pope of Trash", high praise from the man who wrote "Naked Lunch." Born and raised in Baltimore, Waters began making shorts on 8mm, none of which have been released (and that's the way he likes it). Like Andy Warhol's assortment of Factory players, Waters worked with his own acting troupe nicknamed the Dreamlanders, the most famous of which was transvestite, Harris Milstead, or more famously Divine. His early dabbles would culminate in the 1972 cult hit, "Pink Flamingoes", an epic of bad taste. Of course, what more can you say about an overweight drag queen that eats dog poop. In 1988, Waters would move into the mainstream with "Hairspray" which has since been turned into a Tony-winning musical. Waters would follow that up with "Cry Baby" (starring Johnny Depp) and "Serial Mom", both of which were tamer fare than what early-Waters fans were used to. "A Dirty Shame" is Waters attempt at returning to his roots of shock humor.

The film is set in a nice suburban neighborhood on Hartford Road in Baltimore, Maryland. Tracey Ullman stars as Sylvia Stickles, a typical housewife trying to cook breakfast and fend off the amorous advances of her husband, Vaughn, played by crooner Chris Isaak. Her daughter, Caprice (Selma Blair), is locked in a room upstairs due to being under house arrest for various offenses such as nude loitering and nude drunken driving. Caprice, who would rather be called Ursula Udders, sports shall we say a pair of prominent chestular enhancements. Or as they said in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", she has "huge tracts of land." The character is perhaps an homage to busty B-movie actress, Chesty Morgan, whose massive mammaries starred in a pair of films by Doris Wishman, the female Russ Meyer and one of Waters' idols.

While driving to work, Sylvia is bombarded by seemingly indecent behavior from an elderly couple making out to a man taking his trash out with no pants. It gets worse as her car runs out of gas in the middle of a busy intersection and she gets a hard bonk on the head. The blow has left Sylvia disoriented and without any inhibitions. To the rescue is tow truck driver and self-professed sexual messiah, Ray Ray Perkins (Johnny Knoxville), who inducts her into his group of perverted apostles (all of whom have also suffered life-changing head injuries). The gang is made up of various people with strange fetishes such as Messy Melinda (Susan Rome) who rubs food all over her body and Officer Alvin (Alvin J. Wendl) who enjoys dressing up as an adult baby (a fetish I really didn't want to know about). Sylvia is his long awaited twelfth member and together their goal is to discover a new form of sexual act never been done before.

Standing in their way, however, are the so-called normal people or "Neuters", led by Sylvia's mother, Big Ethel (Suzanne Shepherd), and neighbor Marge, played by Mink Stole, one of the few surviving original Dreamlanders. Other regulars pop up in various roles such as Ricki Lake and former kidnapped heiress, Patty Hearst as a recovering sex addict. The clash between the two sides builds to a chaotic mess as Ray Ray's disciples flood the streets sending the Neuters fleeing in terror.

Despite the NC-17 rating, the actual act of sex is never shown on-screen and its surprisingly tame compared to stuff I've seen on TV. And therein lies the gist of things. Waters tries to imbue the film with shock for shock's sake, yet how gross can you be when Matt Stone and Trey Parker have been doing the same thing (with better results) for years using construction paper and now with marionettes. I've watched cartoons on Adult Swim that made me cringe more than "A Dirty Shame." Certainly there are many laughs to be had, but I found myself shaking my head and rolling my eyes at bad bits of dialogue, most of which I can't repeat here.

Perhaps the funniest characters are a Yuppie couple who were in my opinion the only true "normal" people in the film. Moderates in between two extremes. They are aghast at the intolerance of the Neuters, but are disgusted and chased away by the insane limits at Sylvia and company take. It's unfortunate they get a short amount of screen time. The production design is well done as the natural erotic forms found in nature are accentuated. Much like the characters, I found myself seeing things in a whole new light during a second viewing of the film. "Dirty Shame" opens on a typical suburban household surrounding by trees and shrubs. A second look allowed me to notice the phallic shapes that some of the bushes formed.

The performances are rather good as well. Talented comedienne, Tracey Ullman, goes full out with her character and certainly saved most of the picture for me. It's a shame she seems to have been overshadowed by a little animated short that served as a bumper for her old show. I'm talking about "The Simpsons", naturally, which Waters appeared on once. Former "Jackass" star and soon-to-be star of what will probably be 2005's worst movie of the year "The Dukes of Hazzard", Johnny Knoxville is tolerable as Ray Ray, somewhat of a variation on Stephen Dorff's in "Cecil B. Demented." He's mainly an obnoxious jerk which isn't a stretch as I find him to be an obnoxious jerk in real life as well. Not surprisingly, Waters was a huge fan of "Jackass", seeing it as a natural progression of the filthy behavior he presented in "Pink Flamingoes."

VIDEO:
The video is presented in anamorphic widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. No complaints here. The images are sharp and the colors pop out.

AUDIO:
The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround Stereo. Both are crisp and clear. The sounds stand out against each other.

EXTRAS:
There are two commentary tracks. The first is by John Waters and he is always a hoot to listen to. The second features an assortment of people that include casting director/associate producer Pat Moran, production designer Vincent Peranio, costume designer Van Smith, and prop master Brook Yeaton. They discuss their jobs and the making of the film, although it's hard to tell sometimes who is talking without some kind of notice or heading.

"All the Dirt on A Dirty Shame" is a behind-the-scenes tour that runs 82 minutes and is split into 16 chapters. It discusses not only the making of the film, but also Waters' career and his love of Baltimore. Some information is repeated here and in the commentary tracks, but both are very informative and it isn't the typical "I love working with this guy" EPK stuff.

You'll also get the theatrical trailer and promos for other New Line/John Waters releases and a deleted scene (more of an outtake) featuring a typical Johnny Knoxville stunt.

FILM VALUE:
The success of "South Park", "American Pie", and the Farrelly Brothers may have spurred Waters into trying his hand again at gross-out humor. He achieved those goals with mixed results in "A Dirty Shame." I found myself laughing out loud one moment and groaning another, not because of something disgusting but because of something completely unfunny. Waters has always been an acquired taste and those of you who don't like him won't like this one. Those of you who do might find "A Dirty Shame" entertaining, if not very memorable.