A Dirty Shame ~ John Waters Returns to His Roots

John Waters is the bad boy of the movie world. He likes to shock as much as possible, and delights in driving the censors bonkers. For this, I love him. Admittedly, some of his earlier stuff is over the top, even for me. Pink Flamingos lost me at the spitting scene (I could, however, handle the chicken sex scene no problem...), and Desperate Living, while amusing, was just one movie where Waters was trying a bit too hard to shock and lost the fun of his usual stuff. Then there came Serial Mom and Pecker and they were fantastic... but some said he had sold out. Too mainstream and tame, they said. So, that brings us to A Dirty Shame, a return to his roots and John Waters' latest foray into censor-shocking, but with a big budget.

My name is Ray-Ray and I'm here to service you.

Make no mistake, the plot alone should tell you quite a bit here. It's about a small neighborhood in Baltimore (as usual) in which there is a sexual revolution happenin. Folks are getting bonked on the head, which turns them into sexual deviants. As such, there is a ton of nudity (full frontal) and lots of racy language. There is also bunches of hilarity.

My name is Sylvia Stickles, and my clitoris is in crisis.

Waters enlisted comedienne Tracy Ullman to be the star of this one and she just takes the part and runs with it. The fun she had here is apparent in every scene. Switching from the up-tight mom of a dancer to the towns sexual savior is just priceless.

My back hurts. I'm getting sores. I wanna do housework without pain. I'd like to sleep on my stomach once in a while...

Speaking of the dancer, this is played by In Good Company's own Selma Blair... plus several pounds of extra boobage. No. Really. You gotta see these things! I'd have trouble walking. Blair plays this part over-the-top on purpose, which works out wonderfully... but I gotta say it one more time. Look at them bazoongas!

It's not safe out! People are shaving their crotches as we speak. There is pubic hair in the air! Everywhere!

Mink Stole of course shows up too, here as a 'neuter', one of the outraged townsfolk trying to put a stop to sex completely. It's been fun having a little Waters Marathon these past few weeks and watching her age gracefully. Here she shows that she still has it. That sense of humor is what makes her and this character work.

Perverts are taking over this neighborhood.

And then there is Ray-ray. Kinda the messiah of the sexual revolution. He's a sexual healer, oh yes he is. Johnny Knoxville is the hunka-hunka Ray here. I never really noticed just how damn sexy he actually is until this one. I mean, he was cool and all in MIB II, but kinda deformed so you couldn't tell... here it is very apparent that he was a fantastic choice for this particular role.

I have to say that this time Waters has given us one to satisfy pretty much all of his fan base, from the hard core folks to the ones who prefer the slightly cleaner movies like Hairspray. While crude, it's funny, and there isn't an over-indulgence of vomiting and spitting kinda thang, which are the parts that he lost me on with the earlier stuff... Going with a high 4 stars here for A Dirty Shame, and recommending to all John Waters fans, and just folks with a warped sens of humor like me.