Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #177219 in DVD
• Rating: NC-17
• Format: NTSC
• Original language: English

Amazon.com
When prissy, prickly Sylvia Stickles (Tracey Ullman) suffers a head injury during a traffic altercation, she's, er, revived by self-appointed sexual missionary Ray-Ray Perkins (Johnny Knoxville) and is transformed into an insatiable, take-no-prisoners sex maniac. Yes, it's a John Waters film. Yes, it's filthy. No, it's not as hilarious and sustained as you'd like it to be. It works for a while, though: Ullman, never a stingy comedienne, does everything Waters dares her to do without hesitation; words cannot describe the perversely sporting delight with which she mounts a water bottle during a round of "The Hokey Pokey" at an old folks' home. And there's some fun to be had when Sylvia's emancipation leads her Baltimore 'burb to new heights of ecstasy, freeing her large-breasted daughter Caprice (Selma Blair) while horrifying husband Vaughn (Chris Isaak) and her hardline mother Big Ethel (Suzanne Shepherd, hysterical) in the process. It's also packed with the standard cameos, the most satisfying of which is good old Patty Hearst at a Sex Addicts Anonymous encounter. But, for all the nasty, necessary glee, the movie feels inescapably been-there-done-that, and you can't help but wish this was 1972 and Divine was on hand to prowl for dog droppings. The most shocking thing about A Dirty Shame is how desperate and tiresome its anarchy becomes.--Steve Wiecking

From The New Yorker
In John Waters's latest Baltimore raunchfest, the always welcome Johnny Knoxville stars as Ray-Ray, a tow-truck driver who saves concussion victims by liberating their libidos. Tracey Ullman is the repressed housewife who becomes his disciple. As the awakened townsfolk speak of carnal Rapture and search for the last untried sex act, Waters delivers a full-out burlesque. The film is winningly nostalgic in the way it harkens back to a time when sexual provocations could be truly transgressive, but the broad lampooning of the Christian community seems dated. Still, Waters's anarchic energy never flags, and he hasn't become cynical. With Selma Blair and Chris Isaak. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

5 stars of sick
Many have accused John Waters of kissing up to the mainstream for the past decade or so, starting with "Cry Baby" and "Hairspray," with their less than shocking view of the world. Where, they cried, is the delightfully perverse brain that gave us "Pink Flamingos?"

Be careful what you wish for, because "A Dirty Shame" will bring it all back home. Perfectly cast, brilliantly acted and a total grossfest, this is the best and most outragous movie Waters has done since, well, "Female Trouble." Tracy Ullman and Chris Isaak play the Sticklers, a pair of "neuters" who are completely against all things sexual. A chance accident makes Ullman a sex-addict to the church of Johnny Knoxville (who finally proves himself a movie star here) and his merry band of perverts. If there's a fetish that can be exploited or made disgusting, you'll see it here.

There are so many laugh out loud sexploits here, that I can't even begin to describe them. You'll be wincing as you laugh, as the moments accelerate in the movie from funny -- to weirder and funny -- to beyond the bizarre. You'll hear Tracy Ullman describe oral behavior in so many ways that you'll lose track. You'll discover what a "bear" is. You'll see Chris Isaak leer so salaciously that you'll wonder what directions were being given behind the camera. And you'll hear so many hysterical 50's and 60's sexually oriented novelty songs that you'll be looking for the soundtrack by the end of the week.

A word of warning though. If you are in the least bit prudish, then "A Dirty Shame" will have you fleeing the movie in mortal terror. Now if THAT sounds like the kind of NC-17 rated 90 minutes of comedy that would delight you, then you need a little "Shame" in your life.

Back to true form!
Being an extra on this hysterical film was a true barrel of monkeys. Receiving direction from one of the most notorious cult directors of all-time was quite an experience. A Dirty Shame is yet another twisted Waters' installment from his brilliant and unbelievably retarded mind. Sex addicts run rampant in Hamilton,
a NE Baltimore neighborhood and Johnny Knoxville is the ringleader. This film addresses such sexual fetishes never before spoke of in any previous film. Of course John's most recent films lack the angst of his 70's films, but the fact is
that was nearly 30 years ago and him and his entourage are way past the age of youth rebellion. This is clearly the most outrageous film Mr. Waters' has made since Desperate Living in 1977. Anyone who has been wise to his 70's films will absolutely
enjoy this picture. Folks who are ignorant to Waters' pictures
or those who have never seen one should not see this film without first viewing at least Pink Flamingos(1972) or Female Trouble(1974). A Waters' film you view because OF HIS name. NOT the stars. He is the puppeteer, and they are his marionettes. His recent tango with mainstream cinema and theatre is all well and good but this film proves once again what John Waters' is and will always be.
A Renegade...

Decent Film From Water's POST Divine Era!
A Dirty Shame is a pretty good film. It has it's classic John Water's one liners that could only come from the master himself which make me laugh hysterically. It's John Water's getting back to the basics--post Divine, that is. I separate John's films in 2 catagories: The Divine Years and The Post Divine Years. Let's face it, there will NEVER be another Divine in this lifetime nor will there ever be a John Water's Film that comes remotely close to the Divine Days. So JW fans have to deal with that reality. Of the Divine Years John Water's films, my all time Favorite is FEMALE TROUBLE. Followed by DESPERATE LIVING (which did not include Divine as she was working on another project at the time), POLYESTER, PINK FLAMINGOS, HAIRSPRAY, and MULTIPLE MANIACS. Then we cross over to the Post Divine Years. These films still have the John Waters edge, but not as heavily grotesque and vulgar as in the Divine years. These films include my all time favorite SERIAL MOM, PECKER, A DIRTY SHAME, CECIL B. DEMENTED, and my least favorite-CRY BABY (this film, if any, is the most detached from JW film--the only scene that shows a hint that its JW is the court room scene when Mink Stole is wheeled in in an iron lung smoking a cigarette. The dialogue there is hysterical.)

My suggestion is that if you're a John Water's fan and have seen one or more of his films Divine or Post Divine, then you'll appreciate this movie. In addition, you'll know why Patricia Hearst amoung other actors appears in this film. The reason I say this is because someone who NEVER saw a JW film wrote a review on A Dirty Shame and asked why the [...] Patricia Hearst is in the film? HELLO---she's been in EVERY JW FILM FROM HAIRSPRAY TO PRESENT!! But if you've never seen a JW film or know his antics you obviously won't relate!

GO SEE IT!