The Aristocrats

"The Aristocrats", the hilarious documentary directed by Paul Provenza, and produced by, among others, Penn Jilette, is one of the funniest things about American stand up comedy, period! Mr. Provenza was able to amass some of the best exponents of this typical form of entertainment in which the classic joke is reinterpreted by whoever happens to be on the screen at any given moment.

Granted, this film is not for everyone who might object to be a witness a gross joke being told the way it's supposed to be told. It's a credit to Mr. Provenza and everyone involved in this project not to stray from the joke itself in all its exaggerated detail.

"The Aristocrats" is an excellent documentary that will be appreciated by all fans of comedy. The film is laugh riot because it comes out naturally with what appears to be an improvisational style. The joke being told for our benefit by some of the best talent performing today in this country.

And with that line begins a joke that is profiled from its Vaudvillian roots,through ninety minutes and a myriad of comedians. I once made the mistake of describing this show as bing "a hundred comedians tell the same joke',which got a quizzical"Why would anyone watch that?" reaction. There's much more to this that "comedicans telling a joke".

Comedian Paul Provenza(with the help of Penn Gillette)directs this documentary that examines one joke and how it can be stretched,shrunken,reformed,refitted,debated,taken apart,turned upside-down,twisted,cleaned up,dirtied up and any other way a comic can interpret it. Philosophies and stories around the joke are also factored in,and one who watches this film(assuming one can stick with this doc,any of the wildly profane and wincingly nasty treatments of the joke)learns as much about the teller of the jokes as the joke itself.

With notable turns by such comics as Gilbert Gottfried(who tells the joke both in interview and archival footage),SArah Silverman,Bob Saget,the Smothers Brothers,MArtin Mull,Howie Mandel and George Carlin(among others),this film is a test in one's understanding of not only the telling of a joke,but the mechanics OF telling it and the joke itself. Not much of a movie and barely a documentary,this is a great "curiosity" film that will weed out people who should and shouldn't be watching this. I felt like I learned something out of this,and every so often I got laughs out of it,too. How many films can you say THAT about it?

The comedians in this film simply tell a 2 sentence story in 101 different ways. The story isn't even slightly humorous... it's just a little disgusting. This documentary was made just to show you how "creatively disgusting" 100 accomplished comedians can be in telling this bland story, by trying to out-embellish each other to tell the story in as disgusting a way as possible. So, ask yourself, if you make a slightly disgusting story a thousand times more disgusting... is that humor? Is that funny? No. Why people think this film is funny is beyond me.

I love comedy, but perhaps my taste is a little too low brow to understand this 'documentary'. I find stuff like The Office, Airplane, SNL, The Jerk, Wedding Crashers, Simpsons, Family Guy... all quite funny. But in watching the Aristocrats, my wife and didn't laugh once. We just looked at each other in astonishment, wondering 'And WHY is this supposed to be funny?' Someone, please fill us in!! I'm not rating this a "1" because it's filthy, disgusting and tasteless. Which it is, and I can tolerate that. I just don't see ANY redeeming quality in this picture. It's not funny, and the premise is so bland, as one of the comedians in the picture basically said to the interviewer, "You're an idiot for even thinking about putting our a documentary on this." 0 times 100 is still zero.

Nothing brilliant, but a really intriguing documentary centered around a gross, vulgar and very funny secret joke comedians have shared with each other for years. Features great re-tellings of the joke by some of the funniest people working in the industry today. George Carlin gives a disgusting, creative yet hilarious version, Kevin Pollack gives a great Christopher Walken version of the joke, Bob Saget gives the most deviant version of the joke, Lewis Black gives a great analogy of the possibility of the joke's premise being a television reality show, Sarah Silverman adds a retarded child to the joke and Robin Williams, Billy Connolly and Eric Idle just add more craziness to the film. If you have precious ears avoid this movie like the plague. This is definitely only for the most strong-stomached who adore the art of crude joke-telling. Grade: B

"A family walk into a talent agency," is all you have to remember. The Aristocrats is a documentary(of sorts) based upon an old inside joke with comedians. It centers around a family of people who have this act, and basically is the amalgamation of disgustingly terrible things that happen during the act. When the agent asks the name of the act, you get "The Aristocrats".

So now that you've got a basis to work on, let's give you a bit of this movie, which is basically a 90 minute telling of this very joke in different forms by some of the world's top comedians that even includes the Smothers Bros. It doesn't border on disgusting, it's TERRIBLY disgusting, but that's what makes it hilarious. It's so outlandish and far out for almost every version, that bringing it back around to it's almost mundane punchline is far too perfect.

Some of my associates didn't exactly think so, and I don't blame them. This isn't the kind of movie to bring your mom to see, unless she likes jokes about people peeing on each other, incest, bestiality, and scatology. That's right, I said all of that in the same line. There's not much one can review about for the movie other than saying that it's rated 18A for a reason, and I'm surprised it actually even was received in as many theaters as it did. But that's not taking away from how funny I thought the movie was, even though I know a lot of the people that see this movie that don't already know what it's about when going into it are going to be caught completely off guard and wonder what the hell they're getting themselves into.

With every funny movie that crosses boundaries, there are standouts and letdowns. Though you're not going to believe me, I'm going to tell you that the best comedian in this movie is Gilbert Gottfried's version of the joke when he was losing the crowd at Hugh Hefner's Comedy Central Roast. Props go as well to Andy Dick, Bob Saget, Sarah Silverman, the mime, and the guy who does the card trick version, as the best versions of the joke, but there are other people in the movie that I dislike who were even making me laugh (besides Drew Carey. I cannot find that guy funny ever), which was fun. And that's what makes the documentary type feel of this movie go so well. It's fun to watch all of these comedians try their luck at the same thing.

So go spend your hard earned money on a movie that will definitely make you laugh, as long as you can find poo funny.

*** of *****