Sex and Violence
There was sweltering heat and humidity in New York Saturday, with temperatures in the 90’s. While I own an air conditioner and it has been going practically nonstop all season, I didn’t want to stay cooped up in the apartment all day. So where can you find something fun to do and stay cool at the same time? The movies! I treated myself to a double feature.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A comedian and a magician set out to make a documentary about a dirty old joke but wind up creating a controversial, extremely raunchy yet wildly amusing commentary on the ever-changing standards of public decency.
That’s the back story behind The Aristocrats, directed by comedian Paul Provenza and produced by comedian-magician Penn Jillette (Penn & Teller).
When comedians get together they try to amuse one another. Like jazz musicians holding their own after hours jam session, comics can go all night swapping stories, telling jokes and trying to one-up each other. They often save some of their funniest, if not in fact, dirtiest material for these private performances.
“The Aristocrats” is the punch line to an ages-old joke comedians have all learned and passed down over generations. Much like a secret handshake or an initiation ritual, the successful telling of this joke signifies that one is a member of the fraternity.
How the joke is told, is what makes this tradition so special, and what also makes this film one of the most vulgar 90 minutes in cinematic history. A joke consists of a setup (what the joke is about), and a punch line, the payoff that usually turns the setup in an offbeat direction.
The setup to this joke begins innocently enough. “A man goes into a talent agent’s office and says, ‘Have I got a show for you. You’re gonna love it; it’s a family act.’ The agent says, ‘Alright, tell me about the act’.” What follows is left to the interpretation of the joke teller, with an infinite number of variations and riffs on the description of the act, almost always scatological or sexual in nature, sometimes going on literally for 30 minutes or more, incorporating any manner of acts of bestiality or incest too vivid to repeat even on the Internet.
Provenza interviews 100 comics, comedy writers and show business executives including Phyllis Diller, Robin Williams, Paul Reiser, Whoopi Goldberg, George Carlin, Chris Rock, Shelly Berman and the editorial staff of The Onion. In addition to sharing their own versions of the joke, which reportedly dates back to Vaudeville, the interviews highlight how the direction it takes often depends on the comedic style of the teller.
Male comics almost always take the joke down a sexual path, while some of the women, like Rita Rudner and Cathy Ladman found more restrained ways of getting a laugh. Older comedians, like Diller, used to working in clean material were able to find less offensive ways of telling the same joke. But everyone stretched the boundaries of good taste.
And that is the interesting sidebar to this very simple film. What is offensive? What is considered vulgar or in bad taste? Those answers are left to individual listeners. Humor that made us uncomfortable 30 or 40 years ago can now be found every evening on network television. These are just words, and it is a joke, so what is it about blue material that causes some to laugh while others get up and leave (and several people did walk out on the screening I attended)?
This film does not attempt to answer any of those questions, it merely raises them. It is interesting to note that the 3,500 screen AMC Theatres chain has refused to show this picture and that the producers deliberately did not seek a rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). It would have undoubtedly received an NC-17. Knowing the subject matter, movie-goers are advised to see it at their own risk.
Four Brothers also failed to address deeper questions, but it never failed to entertain. The latest film from director John Singleton--who since his debut Boyz n the Hood, seems to be having an up and down career--is weak on story and plausibility, but strong on action, male bonding, gun play and chase scenes. For this particular subject, that seems to be enough to hold audience attention.
The brothers are Bobby, Angel, Jeremiah and Jack Mercer, (Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin, and Garrett Hedlund respectively), the adopted sons of Evelyn Mercer (Fionnula Flanagan), a salt of the earth who took many an at-risk foster child off the tough streets of inner city Detroit, but raised these four herself because they were so far beyond hope no one would permanently adopt them.
When Evelyn is senselessly murdered in a grocery store robbery, her boys come home to bury her. But when they find the Detroit PD indifferent, inept and corrupt, they decide to track down the killers themselves. Tossing all believability to the bitter Michigan winter wind, Singleton gets us to follow along as the boys play vigilante, engaging in shootouts and snowy car chases with suspected hit men, following up leads that trained detectives somehow can’t piece together, and getting away with murder, literally. It’s all good clean fun.
This movie doesn’t pretend to be anything more than what it is, escapist entertainment. If you sit back and just watch, it actually has some touching moments. The interaction and good natured razzing the guys give each other makes them believable as brothers. Scenes showing how they miss their mother are also effective.
Chiwetel Ejiofor (Dirty Pretty Things), Josh Charles (tv’s Sports Night) and Terrance Dashon Howard (Hustle & Flow), give fine supporting roles as cops and bad guys, involved in the investigation of the murder.
While some people walked out of The Aristocrats, I wish some at Four Brothers would have shut up so the rest of us could hear the movie. Yes, it attracts that audience. But I stayed cool anyway.
Posted by bernie at August 14, 2005 6:20 PMTrackBack
I had every intention of seeing Four Brothers this weekend, but time got away from me. I'll see it next weekend. However, this is the first time I've heard of the Aristocrats. I guess being behind two films is natural for me.
Posted by: ej at August 14, 2005 7:45 PMFunny, we must have been in the same theater for Four Brothers. I had a loud audience too. Actually, it was just one very loud woman who kept talking to herself and moving from seat to seat.
Posted by: Keith Boykin at August 15, 2005 9:51 AMI saw Four Brothers over the weekend as well. I agree, the story could have been a little more developed but the action scenes were great. I particularly liked the car chase in the snow.
Posted by: ClayStarr at August 15, 2005 12:16 PM*snaps fingers* The Aristocrats! Although I liked "Royalty!" better, it's still a funny funny movie.
Posted by: karsh at August 16, 2005 9:34 PMHello Bernie, what say you in response to Michael Musto questioning John Singleton about Mark Wahlberg's use of "fairy" to rib one of his brothers?
Posted by: TeKay at August 18, 2005 10:54 AMI saw the Aristocrats and loved it! My Favorite parts were Whoopie Goldberg and the Mime. Chris Rock sucked. Interestig enough only one person walked out of the theatre when I saw it. The women enjoyed the scat humor just as much as the men. Interesting enough, when we bought our tickets, the ticket taker said "Do you know what you are getting yourself into?" YES. When I tell the joke I'm changing the punchline to The Sophisticates which is better than The Aristocrats.
Posted by: Eric McGill at September 18, 2005 9:21 AM