Dirty Shame

Theatrical Release Date: 2004 09 24 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 794043775420

Studio: New Line Home Video

MPAA Rating: NC17   Contains:[Nudity, Strong Sexual Content, Not For Children, Profanity]

Summary: America's leading titan of bad taste, John Waters, returns to X-rated territory (well, actually NC-17-rated territory, but you get the idea) for this wildly over-the-top comedy. Sylvia Stickles (Tracey Ullman) is a wife and mother living in Baltimore who, along with her husband Vaughn (Chris Isaak) and mother Big Ethel (Suzanne Shepherd), operates a local convenience store. One day, Sylvia receives a sharp blow to the head, which leaves her with a concussion. However, the concussion comes with an unexpected side effect -- Sylvia has suddenly become a sex addict, and is soon attended to by the perverse and lascivious sexual evangelist Ray-Ray (Johnny Knoxville). When it becomes evident that Vaughn can't keep up with her sensual appetites, Sylvia throws herself into the strange netherworld of Baltimore's community of erotic overachievers, which includes her daughter Caprice (Selma Blair), who is living a double life as ?ber-buxom exotic entertainer Ursula Udders. A Dirty Shame also features supporting performances from Waters regulars Patricia Hearst, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce, Channing Wilroy, and Jean Hill. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Comedy

Awards: Film Presented – Toronto International Film Festival

Features: ccOriginal theatrical version of the film
Scandalous John Waters commentary
Shocking featurette "All the Dirt on a Dirty Shame"

Dirty Shame

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 06/14/2005

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1, DDS Dolby Digital Surround

Runtime: 88 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Main Title [3:41]
2. The Stickles [4:41]
3. Ray-Ray and the Concussion [6:13]
4. Pinewood Park and Pay [5:21]
5. "Yodeling in the Canyon" [1:45]
6. The Decency Meeting [1:57]
7. The Hokey Pokey Dance [3:02]
8. Sylvia's New Look [4:19]
9. Ray Ray's Service Center [6:39]
10. "It's a Dirty Shame!" [3:57]
11. Ursula and Sylvia Bond [8:08]
12. "You're a Sex Addict, Sylvia!" [12:16]
13. "Let's Go Sexin'!" [4:57]
14. "I Wanna Be Horny" [5:07]
15. Invasion of Pinewood Park and Pay [4:40]
16. "The Sexual Revolution Has Begun!" [6:50]
17. End Credits [5:07]

Jason Buchanan

Like a cartoonish version of They Came From Within that substitutes head injuries for parasites and an uptight Baltimore neighborhood for a futuristic high-rise apartment complex, John Waters' A Dirty Shame finds the so-called "Prince of Puke"'s career coming full circle. For a while, it seemed that age had mellowed Waters somewhat, and though such later efforts as Serial Mom and Pecker certainly had a cheeky edge over the average Hollywood fare, it was simply harder to shock audiences into laughter in an era when South Park aired nightly and "special edition" DVDs offered raunchier, more explicit versions of films originally rated PG-13 or R when released to theaters. In short, it seemed that the precedent that Waters had set with his own shock classic Pink Flamingos had come back to haunt him. Thankfully for longtime fans, Waters was more than up to the challenge of regaining his former glory, and Fine Line Features was willing to support that decision by granting him the liberty to shoot an NC-17 film (though, even with that rating, one gets the occasional feeling that Waters was holding back). Supported by a game cast that includes Tracey Ullman and Chris Isaak, Waters not only takes on the sexual hypocrisy that has come to define the mores of post-nipplegate America, but also the very source of that anxiety by casting Johnny Knoxville as a sexual Jesus who has come to bring the "resurrsextion" to Hartford Street. The film also offers some of the most quotable dialogue of Waters' recent filmography, and when Ullman's sex-crazed Sylvia Stickles begs husband Vaughn (Isaak) to "discover the oyster," one can't help but chuckle at recalling the classic dialogue that defined such early efforts as Desperate Living. Though it doesn't possess the mean streak that defined Waters' early efforts, A Dirty Shame is still more Female Trouble than Cry-Baby, and the collection of naughty novelties that litters the soundtrack even finds his musical selections hearkening back to the pre-Polyester era. Leave it to Waters to revert back to his old deviant ways just as a Broadway version of his 1988 comedy Hairspray (the director's first PG-rated film) threatened to bring him some amount of "mainstream" respectability -- and longtime fans simply wouldn't have it any other way. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Ricki Lake  Actor 
Channing Wilroy  Actor 
Jean Schertler  Actor 
Susan Rome  Actor 
Dave Moretti  Actor 
Liam Hughes  Actor 
Carlos Juan Gonzales  Actor 
Michael Gabel  Actor 
Steve Mack  Actor 
Kosha Engler  Actor 
Don J. Hewitt  Actor 
Ty Ford  Actor 
Jeanette Chivvas  Actor 
Douglas Roberts  Actor 
David de Boy  Actor 
Gwendolyn Briley-Strand  Actor 
Brilane Bowman  Actor 
Shirleyann Kaladjian  Actor 
Gaelan Alexander Connell  Actor 
Michael Willis  Actor 
Patsy Grady Abrams  Actor 
Lance Baldwin  Actor 
Kate Kiley  Actor 
Richard DeAngelis  Actor 
Nathan Fulord  Actor 
Jean Hill  Actor 
Fred Strother  Actor 
Richard Salamanca  Actor 
Scott Morgan  Actor 
David A. Dunham  Actor 
Grace Nalls  Actor 
Mary Vivian Pearce  Actor 
Jeffrey Auerbach  Actor 
Kevin Reese  Actor 
Lucy Newman-Williams  Actor 
John Shields  Actor 
Joyce Flick Wendl  Actor 
Richard Pelzman  Actor 
Christopher Glenn Wilson  Actor 
Hari Leigh  Actor 
Britt Prentice  Actor 
Lynn McCune  Actor 
Rosemary Knower  Actor 
Randall Boffman  Actor 
George S. Clinton  Composer (Music Score) 
John Wells  Executive Producer 
Ted Hope  Producer 
Christine Vachon  Producer 
John Waters  Director 
John Waters  Screenwriter 
Mark Ordesky  Executive Producer 
Mark Kaufman  Executive Producer 
Merideth Finn  Executive Producer 
the Fisher Brothers  Executive Producer 
Tracey Ullman  Actor 
Johnny Knoxville  Actor 
Selma Blair  Actor 
Chris Isaak  Actor 
Suzanne Shepherd  Actor 
Mink Stole  Actor 
Patricia Hearst  Actor 
Jackie Hoffman  Actor 
Wes Johnson  Actor 
Nicholas E.I. Noble  Actor 
Susan Allenbach  Actor 
Paul DeBoy  Actor 
Jewel Orem  Actor 
James Ransone  Actor 
Alan J. Wendl  Actor 
Jonas Grey  Actor 
David Hasselhoff  Actor 

Country: USA