Vulgar (2000) Reviews

• Something very different from View-Askew. Glad I saw it...

  abyoussef2004-01-08

  by Dane Youssef Bryan Johnson shows amazing talent and depth as a first-time greenhorn filmmaker. There's more than just one worthwhile film here. There's two. "Vulgar" plays out like a scrappy, slapped-together little campy comedy and then shifts wildly into much darker territory. And then back again. And back... Johnson seems to have a natural wild indie touch and while it has touches of some of the darkest nature ever uncovered on the screen, it also has some nice Jersey-blue collar comedy. Now here's a movie Tarantino would enjoy. It's kinda like a soup. It plays out like a stew of movies, styles and ideas. European avant-garde cinema, indie film and campy, low-budget comedy. It's a shame this movie didn't play in Europe and France. Or college kids. This is the kind of thing they all gobble up. I'm glad I bought a copy. It gives me hope as an aspiring filmmaker... and joy and thrills as a movie-lover who loves off-kilter stuff. Brian O' Halloran is touchingly determined and vulnerable as the clown. He scrapes out a meager existence as a "party whore" and lives in his hovel of a home, living on s**t-wages, barely making ends meet. His landlord is understanding and sympathetic and lets him "mow the lawn or do some maintenance" and knocks off a few. Ethan Suplee and Matt Mawer are effective and creepy as his inbred and mentally-retarded sons who seem to have been phoned right out of "Deliverence." Jerry Lewkowitz is just plain frightening and disturbing as Ed Fanelli. With his portly beer-belly, bug-eyes, raspy voice and bad wig that looks like a little boy's hair. I heard that the inspiration for this character was Dennis Hopper in "Blue Velvet," one of the scariest villains (or any kind of characters) to pop up on any kind of cinema in history. The rape sequence with Will is just horrifying. It outdoes the whole scene in "Blue Velvet" and literally makes you BELIEVE and FEEL what this poor guy who just wants to entertain little kids is feeling. The morning after where he has his emotional breakdown is just as strong. Will confides in Syd about the whole evening and Syd begs him to go to the cops, but Will swears him to secrecy. These scenes all shows strength, talent and feeling with both O' Halloran's acting and Johnson's directing. Johnson himself, like Tarantino and producer Kevin Smith, once jockeyed in a video store. He gives the movie the flavor of a lot of low-budget films and masters past. He gives some "Kevin Smith" flavor in the dialouge and the juice of other great filmmakers', but he also gives it his own signature style. You'd have to see it to know what I mean. Johnson has never been within 200 miles of a film school, so he seems to have gotten all of whatever film education and knowledge from Smith and Mosier. You can tell Johnson is emulating Smith as a filmmaker, like the film's dialouge has an overwritten, over-articulate Kevin Smith-ness to it. Not to mention Smith's one-shot camera set-up. Still, there are moments that generate pain beyond words and conversation that Smith has never shown us. And anyway, this is NOT a Kevin Smith film. I love the man, but this is another cup of tea altogether. Many will see because of the "Kevin Smith" name on the marquee. Which means they;ll be in for some serious shock and disappointment. Johnson's only real mistake, in my opinion (and this is one that hurts the movie more than anything else) is his decision to act in it as the clown's only friend. You see why Smith only gave him bit-parts as Steve-Dave. He's no actor. He tends to mumble a lot of the time. Look, read the other "user reviews" on IMDb about Johnson's "Vulgar." Listen to them describe it. YOU know if it's the movie for you. It all depends on your taste. Go to the site's OFFICIAL WEB PAGE and read the interview with Johnson. After hearing him, does it sound like your type of movie? All in all, this is a hell of a debut. I liked Johnson's different stories and juggling them all at once. Comedy, drama, horror, working-class stories... And at the center of it all, View Askew's poster boy--Flappy the Clown. Have you ever wondered the real story about that clown? Here it is... Don't see this because Kevin Smith produced it. See it because this is your taste. Read the reviews. Does this sound like your brand of poison? You know who you are. SPECIAL NOTE: Jerry Lewkowitz deserves particularly special acclaim. Speaking as someone who has seen far more than his share of movies, Lewkowitz is the most frightening villain I've ever seen. And as Ed Fanelli, he should be placed next to Michael Rooker in "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" and Charlize Theron in "Monster." His role as the horrifying Ed Fanelli will stay with you to the grave... --A Vulgar Movie Fan, Dane Youssef

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• Strange. This is a film that is extremely easy to hate, but to me, I understood what it was going for and appreciated it for that.

  tonymurphylee2006-05-27

  Will Carlson is a birthday clown who is having some troubles. He can't pay the rent, his mom hates him, and everybody gives him a difficult time. He gets the idea of being an adult entertainer party clown. On his first job he is tortured and raped by an insane father and his two sons. He is too embarrassed to call the authorities, so he keeps the entire incident a secret. Some time later, he saves the life of a little girl who is held hostage by her father and becomes famous and gets his own show. Finally, his dream has come true. He gets a call from the family of rapists who had videotaped his performance and tell him to give them a share of his money. He does, but then they also want a repeat reenactment of that fateful night or they will leak the tape to the press. This film doesn't try to be special. It isn't stylized, or done artfully or tastefully. It can be considered many things, but one thing the film can't be criticized for is being pretentious. This is, to put it properly, an old-school exploitation grindhouse style picture. This film is very effective and quite shocking. It certainly is not a film for everybody. It is a hell of an experience. The film is ugly, rough, grainy, and dimly lit. The acting is very intense and the characters are often quite abrasive. The plot of the film is quite realistic to an extent. The rape scenes are pretty horrific and brutal, some of the roughest I've seen in fact. The spends enough time getting us to sympathize and feel sorry for the character of Will Carlson. His roommate(Bryan Johnson, the director of VULGAR) is probably the best character in the film. Ethan Suplee and Matthew Maher are both pretty creepy as the two rapists, Jerry Lewkowitz is quite nasty as the father, and Brian O'Halloran gives a pretty strong performance. In fact, the only serious issue I had with this film is that it tries to be a comedy at times. Ultimately, the attempts at humor come off really poorly. The humor in this film feels out of place and is distracting at times when it shouldn't be. I guess I could call this a black comedy, but the film is actually really disturbing and difficult to watch. Maybe the comedy element was added to make the whole film seem even more wrong. As it is, it's a merciless film and is nasty. If you are a fan of exploitation you will probably love this film. For others, you could probably do with this film. Pros: -very engaging and moving at times -decent acting -well established dark tone -intense -a guilty pleasure Cons: -unneeded humor -graphic violence, rape, and sexual torture may be too much for a lot of viewers -bad marketing

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• Not what i expected from the askew

  neil_tiffany2003-10-03

  *****Very minor plot spoilers(tiny really)******** Being a big viewaskew (smith) fan i ordered this film thinking i would get something similar to the other films on askews production company. But this film, by bryan johnson (of steve dave fame), is very differant to smiths film. Its a serious look at how rape can affect a man. Allthough it does have a comedic undertone with the man being a clown, it has some very edgy and reasonably well made moments. As i watched the last 20 mins i found myself feeling very on edge and in the end satisfied with the conclusion. Its a decent film with some good moments and decent acting. For kevin smith fans its worth watching just for his role. For the rest of you if you like a film that deals with harsh realities, maybe this is for you.

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• Amazing

  Chadd-32002-11-02

  This is one hell of a movie. At times it's funny, and at times it's sad. Many people don't like this film because it's disturbing. Well, it is. But you just have to get over it. People hated this film being disturbing because they weren't expecting it, they thought it was a light comedy. So just go into it knowing your going to be changed. For the fainter of heart, rent the Rated version. The rape scene is much shorter. But keep in mind, that wasn't the director's vision. Great acting, great writing, great directing, great film.

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• good but hard to watch

  ShimmySnail2003-11-29

  There's no really clever message here, it's just full of questions the viewers also answer along with the main character. It was a very well done film, and I attribute its low IMDB user rating to the average viewer's extreme discomfort with the subject of male on male rape, with which this film deals. American Me also received a similarly low rating from IMDB users, likely for the same reason, and that film is definitely one of the best films ever made, certainly the best and most realistic and, more importantly, relevant, gang/prison film I've ever seen. Though it was neither written nor directed by him, Vulgar is played off much of the time as a Kevin Smith film (e.g. Dogma, Clerks, Mallrats, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back), and also stars the main character from Clerks (O'Halloran), as well as Kevin Smith himself and one or two others. It's not a comedy, though, and the sex in the movie is most definitely not meant to be funny or entertaining, nor are the sarcastic comments from the main character's cynical but supportive friend. It's mainly a good look at how someone deals with a horrible set of life circumstances and events and how it changes them. How much can a truly good person take before they snap? What do you do if you think there's no way to simply avoid doing the (traditionally) wrong thing? There's also a comment on karma, but that doesn't tie-in unless you watch one of the deleted scenes on the DVD. With such a small cast of characters and a believable premise (men are gang raped in real life all the time, outside of prison), it has the added relevance of many independent films in that it makes one imagine themself in a similar situation and how they might react. The acting is good, the dialogue is, I'm guessing, realistic, no drag and drop lines ("Let's get outta here!" "Are you scared? You should be." "I'm going in! No, you're not!"), and the ending is extremely nerve wracking. If you watch movies to be entertained, skip it, but if you watch them to make yourself think, don't miss it.

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