A Dirty Shame

2004 "Threatening the very limits of common decency."
5.1| 1h29m| NC-17| en| More Info
Released: 24 September 2004 Released
Producted By: Fine Line Features
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.newline.com/properties/dirtyshamea.html
Info

Sylvia Stickles runs a convenience store with her husband and mother-in-law. One day, Sylvia is hit on the head and transforms from an uptight prude to a sex-crazed lunatic. As she goes on a rampage through town, Sylvia attracts the attention of Ray Ray, a sexual healer and tow truck driver in search of the world's greatest orgasm. Their sexual revolution, however, causes a class war in their tiny Baltimore community.

Genre

Comedy

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Director

John Waters

Production Companies

Fine Line Features

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A Dirty Shame Audience Reviews

GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
jroguetech At face value, the movie seems to favor sexual freedoms, but is anything but. At every stage, it seems to speak against sexual freedoms. First, it implies (and later directly states) that sexual freedom is only caused by head trauma, and equates it to sexual addiction. It also clearly links sexuality with infidelity (although, I grant, non-sexual people aren't likely to practice infidelity). In the same few scenes, the leader of the sex addicts is shown as being the devil. The viewer is then shown a sample of the strange "perversions". Though some may not seem all that strange, they're all giving a bad light... During the film, an infantile grabs a real baby, a defecater unloads in an unsuspecting woman's purse (causing her death), a saliroist is shown licking a tire and eating strangers' cigarette butts, etc.; it's virtually guaranteed that even the most open minded person will be grossed out by at least one thing. After the perverts are failed to be saved in metaphoric church and tempted back by the devil (and more head trauma), they all run around raiding "normal" people's homes, and sexually assaulting strangers, simultaneously conjuring up zombie movies and literal "assault on families". At the climax of the movie (pun intended), it's revealed that the ultimate sex act is bashing your head in. After all this, the only thing that could have saved the movie was if it was funny. Maybe it is the self-contradictions in the movie that are supposed to funny, but sadly, the only thing good I can say about the movie is squirrel.
dwpollar Over-the-top sex farce by John Waters is funny throughout the first half of the movie but loses the story and just uses sex pranks and disgusting stuff to fill up the last half. I expect to be offended when I see a Waters movie but the story has to be complete for any movie to be recommended by me and this one wasn't. The story is basically about a sexually repressed woman, played by Tracey Ullman, who gets an accidental concussion that turns her into a sex addict. She finds out that there are others and they are led by a character named Ray Ray(a sexual healer) played by Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame. They lay in religious parallels like Ullman's character being the 12th apostle who's is supposed to bring them a new sex act to bring them to a glorious climax. Other religious stuff like putting down the 12 step program didn't set well with me. She gets knocked on the head again and brought back to her normal("neuter") self and this happens to other characters as well but then she gets brought back by another knock which is kind of strange. The group break up a sex addicts anonymous meeting and take over and this is where I kind of stopped liking the movie. They pretty much take over the area at this point and can't be stopped. Waters then throws in everything imaginable and it stops being funny. Definitely this is a revealing movie, but a little too over-the-top for my tastes. It's a dirty shame because if the story didn't fall apart it would have been a funny and worth-while movie experience despite it's many vulgarities.
Karl Self ... because the soundtrack is absolutely great. John Waters is a true connaisseur of 1950ies rockabilly music.Also a shame about the great cast consisting of Tracey Ullman, Selma Blair, Chris Isaak ... erm, and Patty Hearst and David Hasselhoff (aka his Hoffness). And a bunch of surprisingly effective unknowns. It's a John Waters movie, after all.This is a pastiche that plays off sexual depravity against a 1950ies style puritanism. A stolid housewife gets whacked over the head, turns into a sexfiend, and joins the local league of sexual perverts, each of which developed a fetish such as "paydaying" (you'll find out) after getting whacked on the head. There are many conversations like this in this movie: "I'm horny, I need hard cock!" -- "Wash your mouth out with soap and water, sexuality is a sacred duty." When was this ever funny or captivating? Never. But it is particularly out of place in an age where there is a whole, worldwide medium almost solely dedicated to the exploration of every last perversion the human mind is capable of -- and writing cinema reviews. This movie really needs a storyline.
redcore-2 Everyone who took part in this movie should be ashamed.Even actors who I actually like have totally collapsed before my eyes.Seeking any deep meaning and symbolism in this movie is just absurd.It completely lacks any originality.Istead there is some kind of redneckish humour in which there can't be any allegory - it is what it is - incredibly flat and superficial.I love sex jokes but they should at least be funny,not just a line of dirty words and gross images of horny old people.I voted with one star just because there is no option to vote with half or less,but this movie doesn't deserve even that much (well,maybe for the music,but that is quite merciful).Seriously,one of the worst movies ever made.