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Shakes the Clown (1991)

post #1 of 15
6/28/08 at 1:28am
Thread Starter 
This truly is the Citizen Kane of alcoholic clown movies.

Not only that, but this would make a great pairing with Orgazmo for a double feature.

Finally, Tom Kenny would've been a great Joker at the time.
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post #2 of 15
6/28/08 at 1:31am
I ordered this off Amazon when "World's Greatest Dad" was announced and I was reminded of its existence. I hope it's as fun and as fucked up as I remember it being.
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post #3 of 15
6/28/08 at 1:32am
Thread Starter 
I just watched it. Yeah it probably is. This was the movie Death to Smoochy tried to be.
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post #4 of 15
6/28/08 at 1:42am
I just tried to watch this and couldn't get past the first thirty minutes. What am I not getting? What I saw in the first thirty minutes was a seemingly endless wasteland of not funny.
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post #5 of 15
6/29/10 at 1:29am
Why haven't you people told me about this? This is definitely one of the great under-appreciated comedies of all time. Even Kathy Griffith is hysterical in this.
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post #6 of 15
6/29/10 at 1:32am
When I worked at a video store this was on my "employee picks" shelf forever. So hilarious!

<I meant to revisit after World's Greatest Dad. Glad to know it holds up, Pat>
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post #7 of 15
6/29/10 at 1:41am
It's like the world's longest comedy sketch. The world Bobcat creates is pretty impressive, but the best part is that every obvious gross-out gag is played in the least obvious way. It's legitimately clever on a level far beyond "he's a clown but he's doing awful things!".
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post #8 of 15
6/29/10 at 1:58am
I used to have such a boner for Julie Brown. "Leave me alone, Milk Man scum" is one of my all time favourite lines in a film, ever.
I haven't seen this since the early 90's when it hit video and have been too afraid to revisit it. Post "Sleeping Dogs Lie" and "Worlds Greatest Dad" I'm a huge fan of Goldthwaite the writer/director and was worried it would retroactively suck. Must look into.
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post #9 of 15
6/29/10 at 5:08pm
This is on Netflix Instant Streaming for anyone who cares. I haven't had a chance to watch it yet though.
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post #10 of 15
6/29/10 at 6:02pm
Watched this movie so many times back in the day. Binky's Rant is as quotable today as ever. Man, was that minute and a half a regular go-to in our circle. And now I occasionally forget that most people won't get that "Didn't wear my crystal today, it always makes me a little... tense" is a reference, and then I get funny looks. Thanks for the streaming tip; it's been a few years, and my ancient bootleg VHS is long gone.
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post #11 of 15
7/1/10 at 1:07am
One of these days I'll give it a second chance out of goodwill from World's Greatest Dad and my general appreciation for Bobcat, but I didn't like it much either. It's probably been more than a year since I saw it, so I don't remember much of the details, but tonally, it just wasn't what I was hoping for when I heard "alcoholic clown gets accused of murder".
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post #12 of 15
7/1/10 at 1:13am
See, I liked Shakes the Clown a lot more than either World's Greatest Dad or Sleeping Dogs Lie. World's Greatest Dad was very dark, but not very funny. Sleeping Dogs Lie was a sweet movie wrapped around a vulgar concept, but also not very funny.

Obviously World's Greatest Dad is more accomplished as a film than the shoddy and low-rent Shakes the Clown, but Shakes is more enjoyable on nearly every level.
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post #13 of 15
7/1/10 at 1:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll View Post
See, I liked Shakes the Clown a lot more than either World's Greatest Dad or Sleeping Dogs Lie. World's Greatest Dad was very dark, but not very funny. Sleeping Dogs Lie was a sweet movie wrapped around a vulgar concept, but also not very funny.

Obviously World's Greatest Dad is more accomplished as a film than the shoddy and low-rent Shakes the Clown, but Shakes is more enjoyable on nearly every level.
I think World's Greatest Dad is very funny, although I'll give you that the movie does not end on a big laugh the way it seems to want to. When the truth comes out, I think I expected more than a distinct fear I was going to have to add Robin Williams to a list of actors I've seen naked in movies.

I missed Sleeping Dogs Lie, but my understanding from the reviews was that it was meant to be more low-key and sweet.

I think I expected Shakes to be a little more demented, a little more depraved. It seemed very tame for what it was, if I remember correctly.
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post #14 of 15
7/1/10 at 1:33am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyler Foster View Post
I think I expected Shakes to be a little more demented, a little more depraved. It seemed very tame for what it was, if I remember correctly.
This is very true. It's a vulgar movie but it doesn't hold a candle to the "gross-out" comedies of today.

As for what's funnier, that's entirely subjective. Either way, I'm glad World's Greatest Dad was a relative success for what it was, and I hope it leads to Bobcat working more.
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post #15 of 15
7/1/10 at 1:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Ripoll View Post
This is very true. It's a vulgar movie but it doesn't hold a candle to the "gross-out" comedies of today.

As for what's funnier, that's entirely subjective. Either way, I'm glad World's Greatest Dad was a relative success for what it was, and I hope it leads to Bobcat working more.
I wouldn't say "gross-out" is what I meant. More like bug-fuck nuts. Lynchian weird. Not literally, but I think you get what I mean. It felt very much like the "average" comedy about drunken clown murder. If there were a studio that made them, it would be a "safe" studio picture.
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