A Dirty Shame 1330877 225424367 2008-07-13T16:54:21Z Kencf0618 940017 ac moral panic, bukkake, climax, & fourth wall linkage, etc; style. {{Infobox Film | name = A Dirty Shame | image = a dirty shame poster.jpg|200px | caption = Theatrical release poster | director = [[John Waters (filmmaker)|John Waters]] | producer = [[Pat Moran]]<br>[[Christine Vachon]] | writer = [[John Waters (filmmaker)|John Waters]] | starring = [[Tracey Ullman]]<br>[[Johnny Knoxville]]<br>[[Selma Blair]]<br>[[Chris Isaak]] | music = [[George S. Clinton]] | cinematography = Steve Gainer | editing = Jeffrey Wolf | distributor = [[New Line Cinema]]<br>[[Fine Line Features]] | released = [[September 24]], [[2004 in film|2004]] | runtime = '''Theatrical cut'''<br>89 min.<br>'''Edited cut'''<br>84 min. | country = [[United States]] | language = [[English language|English]] | budget = $15 million | gross = $1,914,166 | website = http://www.adirtyshamemovie.com/ | amg_id = 1:292000 | imdb_id = 0365125 }} '''''A Dirty Shame''''' is a [[2004 in film|2004]] [[comedy film|comedy]] directed and written by [[John Waters (filmmaker)|John Waters]] starring [[Tracey Ullman]], [[Selma Blair]], [[Johnny Knoxville]], [[Chris Isaak]], [[Mink Stole]] and [[Patricia Hearst]]. It was filmed on-location in [[Baltimore, Maryland|Baltimore]] on [[Maryland Route 147|Harford Road]] which is prominently featured in the movie. It exists in both a full uncensored version and an edited, R-rated cut sold through Blockbuster and Wal-Mart as ''A Dirty Shame: The Neuter Version''. ==Plot== Sylvia Stickles ([[Tracey Ullman]]), a suburban housewife in Baltimore, is stressed, uptight, and uninterested in sex with her husband, Vaughn ([[Chris Isaak]]). Her daughter, Caprice ([[Selma Blair]]), who had previously been a topless go-go dancer using the stage name '''Ursula Udders''' due to her enormous [[breast implant|cosmetically enhanced breasts]], is under house arrest following a series of convictions for [[exhibitionism]]. On her way to work at the convenience store run by the Stickles family, Sylvia is struck in the head by a lawnmower protruding from the back of a passing truck. The resulting concussion triggers a radical change in her personality. Ray-Ray Perkins ([[Johnny Knoxville]]), a [[mechanic]] and "sexual healer", arrives on the scene and realizes that Sylvia is to be his "twelfth apostle". He performs [[oral sex]] on her, informing her she is now a [[Sex addiction|sex addict]]. A changed woman, Sylvia goes to work where she meets her mother, Big Ethel ([[Suzanne Shepherd]]), who complains that the neighborhood is being taken over by sexual deviants. Many patrons of the store, including the mailman and a police officer, exhibit signs of sexual addiction and fetishism; one of the employees seems to be sexually aroused by anything unsanitary. Ethel's friend, Marge ([[Mink Stole]]) stops by, and she too is disgusted by the growing contingent of sexually liberated people. They decide to organize a "decency rally" for like-minded people in the neighborhood who become labeled "neuters" because of their ultra-[[Conservatism|conservative]] views of sex and [[decency]]. Meanwhile, Sylvia begins to [[hallucinate]] that everyone around her is obsessed with sex. She convinces Vaughn to leave the store with her for "funch" - fucking after lunch. They park on the side of the road and Sylvia talks Vaughn into performing oral sex on her, which she calls "yodeling in the canyon". Afterwards, they visit Vaughn's mother in a nursing home where the elderly residents are dancing the [[Hokey Pokey]]. Sylvia and Vaughn join in the dance but Sylvia begins to hallucinate that the nursing home attendants are encouraging her to dance in an increasingly suggestive manner so she picks up a bottle of water with her crotch. The residents flee in [[moral panic]]; in the confusion Sylvia leaves too, becoming separated from Vaughn. Night falls and Sylvia changes into sexy leopard-print clothing she finds in a [[dumpster]] and high-heeled shoes she steals from a store. She then proceeds to Ray-Ray's garage where Ray-Ray introduces her to the other "apostles", all of whom have suffered head injuries and become sex addicts as a result. Each has a different [[fetish]]; for example, the policeman seen earlier is revealed to be someone who becomes sexually aroused dressing in diapers and [[infantalism|acting like an infant]]. Ray-Ray introduces Sylvia to the [[Bear (gay slang)|"Bears"]], three men who are "husky, hairy, homosexual, and out of the second closet". The remaining apostles engage in such activities as eroticizing dirt and "sploshing" (smearing their private parts with food). Fat Fuck Frank ([[Wes Johnson]]), Caprice's biggest fan, is also an "apostle" and he urges Sylvia to free her daughter who is an addict as well. Ray-Ray reveals that as the twelfth apostle, Sylvia, whose fetish is [[cunnilingus]], is predestined to discover a new sex act that has never been performed before. Sylvia returns home to Caprice and they reveal their sex addiction to one other and reconcile their differences. After deciding to go to a biker bar, the Holiday House, and "fuck the whole bar" they run giddily down the street and Caprice's [[ankle monitor]] sets off an alarm. Caprice is greeted joyously by the bikers, including Fat Fuck Frank. As Caprice dances topless to her signature song, revealing her gigantic breasts, Sylvia coerces one of the bikers into performing oral sex on her. Vaughn and Big Ethel arrive, and Big Ethel snares Caprice in a net that had been hanging from the ceiling; this causes a riot to break out. Sylvia is accidentally hit on the head with a bottle in the chaos, reversing the effects of her earlier head injury. The next day, Sylvia and Caprice are visited by a doctor who informs Sylvia that she has suffered the effects of a concussion. The doctor forcibly administers [[Fluoxetine|Prozac]] to Caprice who is handcuffed to a chair. Caprice throws a TV remote at Sylvia, hitting her in the head, but to no avail as Sylvia reminds Caprice that "it has to be an accident". Two fornicating squirrels in the attic cause the ceiling above Caprice to crack; a piece of the ceiling falls on her head and reverses her concussion (suffered in a childhood "[[maypole]] accident"). Caprice looks down at her huge breasts and is horrified. The family attends a [[12-step program]] for sex addiction which is infiltrated by Ray-Ray and the "apostles". Ray-Ray begins to "heal" the sex addicts one by one, bringing back their [[hypersexuality]]. The Stickles clan resists in turn and Caprice slips some Prozac into Ray-Ray's coffee. As the Stickles attempt to flee, Sylvia runs head first into the wall and reverts to her sex-addicted state. Ray-Ray incites the "apostles" to enact a home invasion; one of them, a woman dressed in a sexy police uniform, bursts into an unsuspecting family's house as they are watching TV and asks, "Who wants to [[fuck]] me?" - to which the teenage son replies "I do, I do!". At another housefhold, the response is simply "We're married!" After Ray-Ray collapses from the effects of Prozac, his "apostles" take him to the garage and feed him sexual stimulants. As they recite a long list of fetishes, trying to discover what the new, previously undiscovered sex act might be (the list includes "tromboning", "plate jobs", and "blossoms"), Ray-Ray becomes inspired. Meanwhile, the Stickles family (minus Sylvia) returns to the convenience store where another decency rally is taking place. The rally becomes infiltrated by sex addicts including Fat Fuck Frank who pleads with Caprice to come to her senses. She initially objects but in the ensuing chaos she gets hit in the head again and is soon dancing on the roof of the store in her underwear. One by one, dozens of people join in a sexual fetish party with many of the "neuters" receiving head injuries and becoming sex addicts. Meanwhile, in an airplane overhead a passenger ([[David Hasselhoff]]) has a [[bowel movement]] whilst reading ''Death in the Entertainment Industry'' and flushes the toilet. The holding tank on the bottom of the plane bursts, releasing [[feces]] into the air. It freezes as it descends through the atmosphere, hitting Vaughn on the head and turning him into a sex addict, whereupon Big Ethel suffers a fatal heart attack. Vaughn proposes oral sex to Sylvia but she says that she has moved beyond that. Ray-Ray realizes that Sylvia now knows what the new sex act will be: she [[headbutts]] Vaughn, creating a [[sexual euphoria]] in both of them. He then reciprocates and soon everyone in the surrounding crowd of sex addicts is headbutting one another into ecstasy. A hearse arrives to pick up Big Ethel but Ray-Ray immediately revives her. When she sits up she hits her forehead against the driver's, which simultaneously turns her into a sex addict and introduces her to the delights of headbutting. As the sex addicts continue to engage in a [[orgy]] of headbutting, the completely new sex act which they had sought for so long, a sexually charged Ray-Ray levitates into the air. He gleefully shouts the film's rallying slogan, "Let's go sexin'!", and gallons of [[semen]] ejaculates from from the top of his head and completely covers the screen in a [[bukkake]] [[climax]] which [[breaks the fourth wall]]. ==Cast== * [[Tracey Ullman]] as Sylvia Stickles * [[Johnny Knoxville]] as Ray-Ray Perkins * [[Selma Blair]] as Caprice Stickles * [[Chris Isaak]] as Vaughn Stickles * Suzanne Shepherd as Big Ethel Stickles * [[Mink Stole]] as Marge the Neuter * [[Patricia Hearst]] as Paige * [[Jackie Hoffman]] as Dora * [[Wes Johnson]] as Fat Fuck Frank * [[Gaelan Connell|Gaelan Alexander Connell]] as Horny Kid ===Dreamlanders=== * [[Channing Wilroy]] as Male Motorist * Alan J. Wendl as Officer Alvin * Doug Roberts as Driving Neuter Husband * [[Mary Vivian Pearce]] as Unjudgemental Ex-Sex Addict * Jean Hill as Woman at Fire Escape * Bob Adams as Bus Passenger ===Cameos=== * [[Ricki Lake]] as Herself * [[David Hasselhoff]] as Himself ==Trivia== * When the MPAA were asked what would needed to be cut to obtain an R rating, they replied that if everything the MPAA objected to were to be removed, the movie would only be 10 minutes long.{{Fact|date=July 2008}} * In order to play a part of a stripper with enlarged breasts, [[Selma Blair]] had to be fitted with a pair of prosthetic devices. * [[Paul Giamatti]] was originally meant to play Vaughn Stickles, but dropped out to play in ''[[Sideways (film)|Sideways]]''.{{Fact|date=July 2008}} * The scene where Sylvia changes her clothes in the back of the cab is based on a true story. [[John Waters (filmmaker)|John Waters]] once had to change clothes in the back of a cab on his way from an airport straight to a book signing.{{Fact|date=July 2008}} * The "R" rated version is heavily censored and removes all profanities and nudity. In an interview, Waters stated that this version is essentially for brainless people and "really weird collectors."<ref>See, ''[[This Film is Not Yet Rated]]'' in which Watrers discusses many aspects of the difficulties Waters had with the MPAA rating system.</ref> ==Goofs== * Before running out of gas, Sylvia's car is turned off and in park, but it is still moving. ==Critical reception== ''A Dirty Shame'' received mixed critical reception. On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film is listed as having a 52% critical approval rating, with 53% among the 'cream of the crop.<ref>[http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dirty_shame/ Rotten Tomatoes]</ref> One of the more positive reviews came from Kevin Thomas of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', who wrote:<blockquote>"A gross-out pioneer, Waters has always had more on his mind than delirious, sex-crazed silliness. By allowing people to speak freely about their sexual urges and practices with a bluntness that is jaw-droppingly hilarious, Waters has drawn deeply upon comedy's liberating power. The more the sex addicts talk about their hang-ups the more comically harmless they seem, and thus it's all the more absurd for the puritanical to try to punish them for their various pursuits of pleasure. Waters has always harnessed poor taste to lampoon attempts to limit freedom of expression. This raucously gritty and high-spirited film could scarcely be bluer in terms of the language, but from Waters it comes as a gust of fresh air."[http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-dirty24sep24,2,6103039.story]</blockquote> Also enthusiastic was [[Peter Travers]] of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'':<blockquote>"''A Dirty Shame'' is Waters unleashed, and wicked, kinky fun for anyone except the twits who rated it NC-17...You may even shed a tear when Sylvia bonds with her daughter by confessing, "I'm a cunnilingus bottom." OK, the jokes are hit-and-miss and the plot is nonexistent, but the Waters spirit stays consistently and sweetly twisted. When the cast takes to the streets singing, "Let's go sexin'," you want to cheer them on." <ref>[http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/6147936/a_dirty_shame]</ref></blockquote> On the other end of the spectrum was [[Roger Ebert]], who gave the film one star out of a possible four:<blockquote>"There is in show biz something known as "a bad laugh." That's the laugh you don't want to get, because it indicates not amusement but incredulity, nervousness or disapproval. John Waters' ''A Dirty Shame'' is the only comedy I can think of that gets more bad laughs than good ones...We go to a Waters film expecting bad taste, but we also expect to laugh, and ''A Dirty Shame'' is monotonous, repetitive and sometimes wildly wrong in what it hopes is funny."<ref>[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040924/REVIEWS/40913001/1023]</ref></blockquote> ===Box office=== ''A Dirty Shame'' opened on [[September 17]], [[2004 in film|2004]] on one Baltimore screen to $29,384. The next weekend, it expanded to 133 venues, where it grossed $448,914 ($3,375 per screen). It ended its North American run with $1,339,668. Overseas, the film earned an additional $529,584, making its global total $1,869,252. ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== * [http://www.adirtyshamemovie.com/ Official site] * {{imdb title|id=0365125|title=A Dirty Shame}} * {{amg title|id=1:292000|title=A Dirty Shame}} * {{mojo title|id=dirtyshame|title=A Dirty Shame}} {{John Waters}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Dirty Shame}} [[Category:2004 films]] [[Category:2000s comedy films]] [[Category:American films]] [[Category:English-language films]] [[Category:Films directed by John Waters]] [[Category:Sex comedy films]] [[Category:New Line Cinema films]] [[Category:Films set in Maryland]] [[br:Clube dos Pervertidos]] [[de:A Dirty Shame]]