—_ 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