Visitors to this page will know that I’m a MASSIVE John Waters fan. When his latest opus, A Dirty Shame was released I eagerly sought out one of the few cinemas that was showing the film in London where I lived at the time after graduating with a degree in Film Studies. There was a red flag before I attended in the form of a review in a newspaper that stated that fans of The Pope of Trash were in for a rude awakening. It stated that Mr Waters’ latest film was appalling and this was from a reviewer who was also a huge Waters fan. ‘What’s in a review?!’ I thought as I awaited this new film with bated breath. But as the film played I realised that the reviewer was right- this was the first Waters film I had ever seen that wasn’t just mediocre but was, as its title suggests, a dirty shame. I felt embarrassed at what I was witnessing on the screen. This fall from grace was dreadful to experience.

Twenty years later and I find a DVD copy of the film selling for 50 pence in a charity shop. I saw that one of the special features on the disc was a Director’s Commentary which would surely be entertaining even if the movie was still a turkey. I decided to buy the DVD and give the movie another chance. Maybe it had aged like a fine wine and earned its place in Waters’ impeccable (see what I did there?!) filmography.

A Dirty Shame concerns Sylvia Stickles, a sexually repressed and frigid woman who is outraged by the amount of flagrant sexual debauchery exhibited by most of her neighbours. That’s until she sustains a concussion during an accident and becomes horny beyond all expectations. She then learns that she is part of a community which is led by Ray Ray who brings together concussion victims who find that they have become sex addicts because of it. There then ensues a battle between the neuters (sexually conservative bores) and the permanently horny.

But did I enjoy A Dirty Shame when I saw it this time after all these years? In a word- YES! I found it irreverent, out-there (even by Waters standards) and utterly hilarious.

There have always been perverts in Waters’ movies with unique sexual acts all being dragged onto the screen whether it’s shrimping in Pink Flamingos or the rosary job in Multiple Maniacs. In A Dirty Shame these are key to proceedings and Waters demonstrates that he knows several hundred of them! Whether it’s spolshing, frottage or being sexually attracted to dirt (really), all are featured here and given screen time.

It was so great to find new actors participating in Waters’ work (Tracey Ullmann, Johnny Knoxville, Chris Isaak and Suzanne Shepherd to name but a few) joining the more established Dreamlanders such as Mink Stole, Patricia Hearst and Channing Wilroy with the whole cast attacking the material with such a massive degree of zeal.

But Selma Blair deserves special notice as Ursula Udders, the mammory enlarged sex addict who lives to go-go dance. She reminds me of supermodel and Eurotrash regular Lolo Ferrari.

We even get a cameo from David Hasselhoff!

And with such subject matter and the fact that it’s a John Waters’ movie, the dialogue is something else. ‘Believe me, I’m not a prude. I’m married to an Italian’, ‘I’m sorry I was nasty about your vagina yesterday’ and ‘Feel like yodelling in the canyon?!’ being three such examples.

The film also contains some animation and CGI effects that have aged incredibly well! The same can’t be said of other movies (Escape From L.A. being one such example).

Waters also makes a great social commentary about both ends of the asshole spectrum- the uptight conservative campaigners who seem to be allergic to any kind of fun especially if it’s to do with sex and the liberals who are open to everything and nauseatingly condescending because of it. There’s even one point where the liberal couple within the film talk about how diversity is so fantastic. Waters was using his crystal ball when he was writing this dialogue with diversity being parroted about in the media of today endlessly whilst the same people only want *their* kind of diversity rather than real diversity.

I kept thinking that A Dirty Shame would make for a great double-bill with Cronenberg’s Shivers. People could bring their own poppers.

Verdict- Is A Dirty Shame that bad? No! The only shocking thing about the film was that I hated it when I first saw it. Maybe I was having a bad day. Maybe I had taken that bad review to heart prior to seeing the film (theres a valuable life lesson there). Whilst this movie certainly isn’t one of Waters’ best, it still deserves it’s own place in The Pope of Puke’s body of work. Let’s hope it’s not the last film we see the great man direct.