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ENGEr bai NMeNt

  
  
 
  
 
 
 
  

A Dirty Shame

Kali Thurber, A&E Editor

John Waters has done it again. Just when
we thought he must have gone too far

with his scandalous movies (Pink
Flamingos, Cecil B. Demented) and that he

 

 

 

should have been swept up under the

great, soiled rug of controversial film-
makers, he spits out his newest film—A
Dirty Shame. Unashamed and seriously
uncensored, A Dirty Shame is an outra-
geous comedy about a grouchy, old town

gone sex-crazy.
The fantastical
plot follows the
ae working-class
es storeowner Sylvia
g Stickles as she
grumbles_ through
Harford Road with
disgust for the
townspeople who
seem to have magically
discovered theit commu-
nal libido. Sylvia is a
bitter, old hag—that is,
until she goes into a coma
after a mysterious accident
and wakes up a sex addict.
With Ray Ray (the sexual
healer) as the leader of
the villainous libertines
who’re scheming to

convert all of
Harford Road to
sexual addiction,

and Big Ethel (the
biggest prude in
town) rallying the
“neuters” to maintain
their sex-hating ways, A

Dirty Shame is a classic tale of good ver-
sus evil. The plot structure seems very
much like one of a cheesy porno flick
from the ‘70s, and that being said, this
film should really be plunked into the
XXX video category because the last 30
minutes of it is just one big, nasty, orgy.
Aside from the con-
cluding orgy, there’s also
a familial element to the
story, which spans three
generations of women.
Interestingly enough,
Big Ethel, the proud
fighter for “neuter nor-
mality” is mother to the
sexed-up Sylvia. And
Sylvia has a monstrous-
ly large-breasted,
exhibitionist daughter,
named Caprice (Selma
Blair), or perhaps more
favourably known as
Ursula Udders. All
three of these charac-
ters are played
exquisitely, but the real
talent comes from
Sylvia, who is played by
an extremely versatile
Tracey Ullman. As the
movie goes on, Sylvia is
continually getting hit
in the head, which turns

   
   
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
 
  
  
    

her back into her old, sexless
self. Tracey Ullman bounces
between a wretched, trailer-
trash hooker and a sour, old
woman with the ease of a
feather. If it is possible for
someone to shine in such an
offensive and revolting movie,
Ullman does it with such trashy
grace that it almost hurts to
watch.

The naughty soundtrack is
another aspect of this movie
that’s done to perfection. With
shiny oldies that you’ve proba-
bly never heard before, like
James Intveld’s “Let’s Go
Sexin’,’ Connie Vannett’s “The
Pussy Cat Song,” and Billy Lee
Riley’s “Red hot,” it’s a collec-
tion of songs that is guaranteed
to get you all hot and bothered.
This movie has a whole lot to
offer—it will educate viewers
on various ludicrous sexual
fetishes, (the prize goes to
sploshers, who enjoy pouring
Chunky soup and other saucy
foods on their genitals) and
teach you all sorts of new lingo
to mock both the over-
sexed and the sexless
(“neuter” is the greatest

@eeeeoeeeeeeeeseeeeeceseesceeeseeceeeeeeceesee ee eevee eeeceeeeeeeeeveeeeeesvseeee eee

slang for the under-
sexed that I’ve
ever heard). It

will make you laugh PF
so hard that when
you emerge from
the theatre your
cheeks will hurt.
True, it may be
nervous laughter
due to the shock
of seeing so many
crude situations,
but at least we
know Waters still
has the knack for
repulsing audi-
ences ‘to this
degree.

OChOber 19/2000