If like me you didn't make it to the theater last year to see the documentary "The Aristocrats" you must must must rent it or watch it on HBO this month. I caught a showing of it this weekend and laughed so hard I not only had tears streaming down my face but also began wheezing from the force of air trying desperately to escape my lungs. The movie kind of started out slow, but I promise if you hang in there you will be rewarded. I don't have time to write a complete review but basically the film explains the origins of a historical joke that most modern comedians tell a version of. Each comedian's version is different and that's what makes it so funny. The joke itself does not follow the usual setup and punchline... instead the point of the joke is how it's told and the words and images each performer uses in his/her version. The punchline itself took me a second to actually get, and honestly I still don't think it's that funny. But I was in stitches watching everyone from Robin Williams to Drew Carey to Penn & Teller to Andy Dick tell their version. The highlight of the movie was the mime... let's just say that the joke describes a plethora of sexual acts and the mime (of course since he can't talk) had to visually act them out. The juxtaposition of his happy clown painted face and him pretending to receive oral sex from a child was just more than I could handle. That's when the tears began flowing. Don't get scared! The explicit scenes are really just there for shock value and to set up the benign punchline. However it's not something I could really recommend to, say, my grandparents with good conscience. If you appreciate any sort of adult humor though... run... run... to Blockbuster. And make sure you aren't eating anything because I guarantee food will fly out of your face at least once during the film. ;-) Any movie that elicits that kind of reaction in me gets a Jimmy Choo four star rating!!


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