A Dirty Shame (USA ; 89 min.) directed by: John Waters starring: Tracey Ullman; Johnny Knoxville; Selma Blair

Chris says: "A DIRTY SHAME is an intermittently amusing but generally trite film. NC-17 rating and all, I wasn't expecting John Waters to make another PINK FLAMINGOS, but there's absolutely nothing shocking or subversive going on here. Like every other post-Divine Waters effort, it's equally affectionate and ironic, but sillier than anything else--sex is literally a quirk, a wacky personality trait that's not seriously dangerous or damaging or even meaningful. Rather than saying anything genuinely interesting about sex addicts, he just drops the same lowbrow jokes over and over again. Tracey Ullman is an inspired choice as the lead--she's not this funny in everything, y'know (see Woody Allen's forgettable SMALL TIME CROOKS) and that scene where she does the Hokey Pokey is near-classic. The Godard-inspired flashing titles are a nice touch, too. But everything else drags, and that's a... well, only Waters would be so obvious to finish that sentence, so I won't. 2 cats"