A Dirty Shame (2004)

I bought the DVD of director John Waters' most recent film since I knew damn well that it was unlikely to appear in an uncut form on television in the forseeable future and I have usually appreciated his special brand of outrageous silliness.  The fact that I disliked his previous picture "Cecil B. DeMented" should have prepared me for the fact that this movie is not really a return to form and that while other directors may mature, Waters seems to regress.  After his early crude (but very funny) guerilla movies, he entered the Hollywood mainstream while still retaining his irreverence and gay sensibilities; I'm thinking here of films like "Cry Baby", "Hairspray", "Serial Mom", and "Pecker".  But the above film comes across as the work of a horny teenager and ranges between mildly amusing and highly embarrassing (and believe me, I'm no prude).  Part of the problem is his choice of lead, since Tracey Ullman is the sort of actress who puts my teeth on edge.  She plays an uptight matron who becomes a "sex addict" by being hit on the head accidentally -- as have most of the other cast -- and Waters provides them with various sexual perversions to talk about (he is something of an expert on this subject as the amusing documentary on the disc reveals; incidentally it was about the same length as the main feature and in its way more entertaining).  An unrecognizable Selma Blair plays Ullman's daughter, Ursula Udders, with the most incredibly huge pair of boobies ever known to mortal man, and there are roles for a number of his stock company, including Mink Stole and Patty Hearst.  It's a problem: I find it impossible to dislike Waters since he has provided me with much merriment over the years, but in his desire to shock, he has somehow lost his ability to entertain.  I say it's a dirty shame!