PRIVATE PARTS
A film review by Joshua McAdams
Copyright 1997 Joshua McAdams
The movie "Private Parts", starring popular radio personality Howard Stern, documents the rise of a obscure kid from sub-urban New York who becomes the self-crowned "King of All Media." Director Betty Thomas paints by numbers over an Ivan Reitman comedic template that had given us such films as "Ghostbusters" and "Stripes." In this time test formula the hero gets laughs while battling an oppressive establishment that wants to shackle all that is funny and good in the world. Throughout the film the audience is blatantly manipulated into routing for the shock-jock. Poor Howard is constantly belittled and picked on by everyone from his father to the WNBC program manager. He is ridiculed by other performers for his Fartman act at the MTV Music Awards. Meanwhile the guy carries on a romance with his beloved wife Allison that is straight out of Brothers Grimm fairy tales. When he finally gets some clout he uses it to stand up to the evil corporate lawyers and management types that want to tone down his radio show. In the end Howard spells out (for anyone who missed the first ninety minutes) how misunderstood he has been his whole life and how is really just a loving father and husband. Message received loud and clear.
"Private Parts" reminds me of a book I read in high school. Its called "Fahrenheit 451". It a prophetic novel by Ray Bradbury that deals with a society devoid of books and completely dependent on television. Truth and fiction have become so ambiguous that only the weather is immune to manipulation. People become like drones willing to accept what ever form of reality is offered to them. Welcome to the United States of America circa 1997.
You see I dont like or dislike the man personally nor do I have any objection to any of his humor. Ive listen to his radio show before on many occasions and have seen him of E! Entertainment Television where Howard has a half hour show. I never read the book on which "Private Parts" basicly because I wasnt really interested in what a radio disc jockey would write about. Of course plenty of people were extremely interested in what Stern was saying - the book became a bestseller. Its not really the vulgarity of his shows that attracts me, its the spontaneity of the individual. Like his WNBC program director is told in the movie, people tune in because you never know what Howard is going to say next. Unfortunately, in "Private Parts" I knew exactly what was going to happen next.
This film is not about Howard as much as it is for Howard and his handlers. The man needs more mainstream appeal in order to sell future movie projects. Enter the Hollywood machine which cranks out a thinly veiled piece of propaganda and then creates a marketing blitzkrieg surrounding it. People flock to it because of star recognition and curiosity, they leave assured that Howard is really a sweet guy, unfairly persecuted by a conservative society of idiots in seal suits. They may never hear his caustic humor that ended up costing him almost two million in fines from the FCC. They may never see the pornographic pay per view specials that netted him over twenty million dollars. They will never witness his treatment of women and mental handicapped people. While I find of this type of corrupting and infectious humor to be extremely funny, the mass audience may not have approved. Then again, he would have never become the media behemoth that he is by catering to family values.
Its shocking how much this film behaves like a marketing infomercial for the kinder, gentler Howard. I almost expected to see a preview for some high concept comedy starring Stern to run before "Private Parts." Howard and Jim Carey are wacky Siamese twins joined at the waist in the 1998 release of "Oh, Brother!" Or maybe, as rumored, Shumacher will put him in the Batman serial as the Scarecrow opposite the next actor to prostitute himself as the cape crusader. Either way both Howard and those who hold his leash are looking at significant returns.
Incredibly Private Parts has not only been well accepted by the general public(who may be helpless after years of idiotic sitcoms) but also by critics who are supposed to protect us from the unscrupulous designs of the movie business. Films should be trade-offs, you take my seven bucks but I get something in return. It could be a good, entertaining story, it could be(but usually isnt) some though provoking insight. If all the filmmaker is doing is polishing a persons image then you come off feeling like a hooker who not only gets rode hard but is stiffed on her fee as well.
To me, Stern comes off not as the All American anti-hero but as the Benidict Arnold of entertainment, selling out his hard core antics in favor of the marginalized profits of world-wide super stardom. Some may claim the humor make for a better movie, I think it serves to disguise the true purpose of the what you are watching. If you are busy laughing at jokes about genitalia how much objective thinking can one do? To her credit, Betty Thomas tries to show Howard in all of his glory, behind the microphone stirring up trouble, but I imagine her hands were tied by powers from on high from the word Go. But we arent talking about historical accuracy or artistic integrity here, were talking money. We are talking box office. We are talking sequel. Cha-Ching!
Rating: Dont see this movie. Dont see it on video. Its not
only pointless and processed, its mind control.
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