September 24, 2004 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Cecil B. Perverted

John Waters returns to the raunch of Pink Flamingoes for his latest film

by Anthony Glassman

For four years, the country has been in a depression. There has been no joy, no happiness, no sick, perverse, diseased displays of raunch and perversity.

However, that four-year dry spell is about to end.

Surprisingly enough, it has nothing to do with the election—although Bush and Dick do spring to mind.

In Baltimore, not Washington.

The four-year interval is the time between the release of the last John Waters movie, Cecil B. Demented, and his new film, A Dirty Shame.

JAMES BRIDGES FINE LINE FEATURES

shouldn't be spoken of or had in the middle of the front lawn in broad daylight.

Big Ethel (Suzanne Shepherd), Sylvia's mother, and Sylvia's husband Vaughn (Chris Isaak) try to save her from her new life, resulting in a brief conversion back to neuterdom and about thirty more concussions by the end of the film.

Like all John Waters films, this is not for everyone. Gone is that brief, almost family-friendly moment encompassing Hairspray, Cry-Baby and Serial Mom, replaced with enough flashes of nudity and euphemisms for cunnilingus to earn the film an NC-17 rating, much to the producers' chagrin.

Of course, Waters says the film deserves an R, adding that last winter's "wardrobe malfunction" and the ensuing brouhaha have made the entire country a little on-edge when it comes to sexual matters, even when handled with the humor they deserve. What's surprising, however, is that the religious right hasn't started burning Waters in effigy. With the uproar over Corpus Christi, Terrence McNally's play that portrays Jesus and the apostles as gay men in Texas, one wonders why they haven't started burning John Waters in effigy. Ray-Ray is a Jesus figure, and he has his twelve sex-addict disciples, including Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Baby Bear.

Sylvia Stickle (Tracey Ullman) and her husband Vaughn (Chris Isaak) enjoy a moment of peace before the sexual storm breaks in A Dirty Shame.

A reviewer once referred to Waters as "Cecil B. Demented," so he used it as the title of a film. Were he to continue that conceit, A Dirty Shame might best be re-titled Cecil B. Perverted.

The film is an insane cross of Demented and his seminal Pink Flamingoes. In Flamingos, people vie for the title of Filthiest Person on the Planet, and in Demented, a group of guerilla filmmakers shake up the status quo by staging a celluloid rebellion.

In A Dirty Shame, a group of revolutionary sex addicts, led by Ray-Ray (Jackass 'Johnny Knoxville), invade a staid Baltimore neighborhood, seeking the one person who can come up with a completely new kink and unlock humanity's true potential.

They believe that Sylvia Stickles (Tracey Ullman) is that person, and when she gets an accidental concussion, Knoxville is quick to introduce her to the mysteries of his world.

Apparently, getting an accidental concussion turns people into sex addicts, as the audience learns through amusing flashbacks. Sylvia's daughter, portrayed by Selma Blair, got konked and became an exhibitionist with an overwhelming desire to expand her bosom, for instance.

The only thing keeping the revolutionaries from their goal is the Neuters, the people who believe that sex is dirty and shameful and

Yes, the stocky, furry, flannelwearing type of bears.

In fact, homosexuality is more up-front in this film than perhaps any of Waters' others. Apparently, the fundies are too busy trying to steal the election to pay attention to popular culture right now.

But the most important question is: Is it funny?

Of course it is. Any movie directed by John Waters with a character named Fat Fuck Frank is, by definition, funny. The humor is, at times, a little forced, a little too contrived, but Waters is also going a little further out than he normally does in this film. Computergenerated sex-addicted squirrels are not easily worked into a script, so the contrivances are justified.

It is, at the core, a John Waters movie, a welcome relief in a sea of mass-produced cookie-cutter films about slashers stalking teens or people falling in love on elevators. And if, God forbid, the election goes badly, at least people can have one last good laugh before the world ends.

GREG GORMAN FINE LINE FEATURES

Director John Waters

Homosexuality is

more up-front in this film than perhaps any

of Waters' others.

even

Dykes Towatch Out For by Alison Bechdel

impolitic

9/22

449

As GOVERNMENT

OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE APPEARS TO

BE IN DANGER OF PERISHING

FROM THE EARTH, OUR PLUCKY PATRIOTS ATTEMPT CPR.

So THANKS FOR COMING TO MY PARTY AND FOR MAKING A DONATION TO MoveOn PAC INSTEAD OF PRESENTS.

HAPPY ELEVENTH, RAF. I'M PROUD OF YOU FOR GETTING SO INVOLVED IN THE POLITICAL PROCESS.

Barbecue BUSH

OH, PUHLEEZE! CUE

THE VIOLINS.

CLARICE HAS SOME NERVE TURNING HER KID'S BIRTHDAY INTO A FUNDRAISER!

IT WAS RAFFI'S IDEA. I THINK IT'S GREAT.

JEEZ, MO! I'M DELIGHTED TO GIVE MONEY. DEMOCRACY ITSELF IS AT STAKE.

HAMM

BUT THAT'S JUST IT! IT'S NOT DEMOCRACY IF YOU HAVE TO BUY IT! I RESENT BEING MADE COMPLICIT IN THE... THE CORRUPT PUTRESCENCE THAT IS OUR ELECTORAL SYSTEM.

HAVE YOU SEEN TONI?

HUH. NOT IN A WHILE.

HEY. ARE YOU

HIDING?

OH, HI, GLORIA. I'M JUST TAKING A LITTLE BREAK.

THIS WAS A GREAT IDEA. IT'S NICE TO SEE CLARICE So UPBEAT ABOUT THE ELECTION. WHATEVER ANTI-DEPRESSANT SHE'S ON, I COULD USE SOME.

EVEN IF IT MEANT NOT HAVING SEX SINCE THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION?

UH...AND RAFFI'S QUITE THE INSPIRED ORGANIZER.

YEAH, HE AND CLARICE ARE REALLY BONDING AROUND ALL THIS. IT'S NICE, BUT A LITTLE LONELY. I MISS THE SPECIAL CONNECTION WE USED TO HAVE.

YOU AND

RAFFI? OR YOU AND CLARICE?

HEY, CAN EITHER OF YOU GUYS BREAK A FIVE?

CHY