Featured Audience Ratings

• Alice S

  
  Unspeakably foul. But oh-so-hilarious.

• Lucas M

  
  Really funny. A story about a old joke with black humor.

• Wahida K

  
  No Nudity No Violence Unspeakable Obscenity, 100 Comedians but one Very Dirty Joke

• Anthony L

  
  A million Comedians. One joke. No laughs.

• Jennifer X

  
  Bob Saget is naaaasty. I like how this movie balances the different renditions of the joke to speculations on the joke's significance and ulterior meaning. The Aristocrats never gets old.

• _kelly .

  
  not just a funny film, but an effective documentary as well, this film explores aspects of not only comedy and the comedian's life, it holds a mirror up to society and asks "what's your limit?". The DVD extras are essentially extensions to the film; plenty of… More
  not just a funny film, but an effective documentary as well, this film explores aspects of not only comedy and the comedian's life, it holds a mirror up to society and asks "what's your limit?". The DVD extras are essentially extensions to the film; plenty of interviews to make this a worthwhile rent or buy.

• Cindy I

  
  Glad I saw this. Now I don't have to concern myself with it anymore. A big deal over a dirty joke with unnecessary embellishment. Zzzzzz.

• Emily A

  
  Not for those with weak stomachs and vivid imaginations, but this flick is really really funny.

• Luke B

  
  Simply bloody outrageous. Have to watch multiple times to catch it all due to too much laughing and missing points. Non-stop comedy literally, and all from ONE joke. It's the way they tell them. If you find people raving about incest, paedophilia, dried semen and rape funny, you… More
  Simply bloody outrageous. Have to watch multiple times to catch it all due to too much laughing and missing points. Non-stop comedy literally, and all from ONE joke. It's the way they tell them. If you find people raving about incest, paedophilia, dried semen and rape funny, you simply must watch this.

• Lanning :

  
  I despise mimes with an evangelically deep and abiding mime-hating passion. In my next lifetime, I could really and truly see myself going door-to-door selling a <i>Watch Tower To Look Out for Mimes</i> magazine. We would only knock on your door after, say, 2:00 in the… More
  I despise mimes with an evangelically deep and abiding mime-hating passion. In my next lifetime, I could really and truly see myself going door-to-door selling a <i>Watch Tower To Look Out for Mimes</i> magazine. We would only knock on your door after, say, 2:00 in the afternoon--never ever on a Sunday morning. And we wouldn't even ask you for a quarter; we'd just be doing it for love and because we believe in our cause.<p> That being said, I think I have to give the mime segment in this movie the highest laugh marks in this joke-u-mentary. Either the mime, or the ventrilloquist. And post-original <i>Twilight Zone</i> episodes, I gotta add that I'm not really a big ventrilloquist fan either. <p> Mostly, I want to say, having seen this once tonight on HBO, that this is definitely worth at least one viewing. And I want to borderline-psychically predict that two viewings may not actually be a good thing. But the first time through, flixsters, this is loaded with funny moments. <p> Bill, what say you? (I'm trying my best to encourage my buddy Bill to come out of his lurking shell and lend an opinion to the flixster two-million : ) By the way, flixsters, be forewarned: Bill is kicking, as Julie might say, "butt" in the never-ending quiz. So watch out. 70,000 points may be just around the corner for him. Bill is a very very deep info videophile.

• Nate Z

  
  [center][font=Arial][color=darkred][img]http://img305.imageshack.us/img305/8600/photo077pg.jpg[/img][/color][/font][/center] [font=Arial][color=darkred][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]A man walks into a talent agency. He tells the agent he’s got a family act the likes of… More
  [center][font=Arial][color=darkred][img]http://img305.imageshack.us/img305/8600/photo077pg.jpg[/img][/color][/font][/center] [font=Arial][color=darkred][/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]A man walks into a talent agency. He tells the agent he’s got a family act the likes of which no one has ever seen before. The agent tells the man to continue. The man’s wife, children, and pet come into the room and proceed to do the most vile, puerile, horrendously vulgar acts to themselves and each other. The agent is shocked. After a long moment of silence, the agent says, “What do you call this act?” The man replies, “The Aristocrats!” [i]Ba-dum-dum[/i].[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]It’s really not a good joke, but what makes it special is that the middle is entirely open for the comic to say whatever they want. Comedians will build and build in their obscenity so that the weak punchline is practically an afterthought. It’s a joke that goes all the way back to the days of vaudeville. Comics tell it to each other after shows like a secret handshake. [i]The Aristocrats[/i], an unrated documentary, gathers 100 comedians and lets them put their own crass spin on a classic dirty joke.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]The movie boasts plenty of well-known names getting down and dirty, like Robin Williams, Chris Rock, Whoopi Goldberg, George Carlin, the South Park creators, Jason Alexander, Eric Idle, Richard Lewis, Andy Dick, Fred Willard, Howie Mandel, Eddie Izzard, and Drew Carey (he insists the punchline should be accompanied by finger-snaps). Few comedians give a full rendition of the joke but the clips are just as potent. Judy Gold involves her unborn baby in the act and Carrie Fisher says her mother likes to sing in a very different kind of shower, but the filthiest mind of all belongs to Bob Saget, who can't make it through without breaking up and saying, “What am I doing?”[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred][i]The Aristocrats[/i] also includes comics from different eras, including Larry Storch, the Smothers Brothers (one of which has never heard the joke before), and even Phyllis Diller, who pretty much just cackles at others. Dana Gould manages to pull together a very funny clean rendition involving the Amish version of the joke. The film opens on Carlin, closes on Gilbert Gottfried, and oh what a journey the film takes.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred][i]The Aristocrats[/i] is very very funny but also a rather incisive look at the nature of comedy. In between dishing the dirt, various comedians rhapsodize about the mechanics of comedy, the freedom in conquering taboos, and the intricacies of delivery (Paul Reiser stresses that any poo-related parts should be saved for the big finish). Penn Jilette says, “It’s the singer, not the song.” [i]The Aristocrats[/i] displays comedy like it was jazz, each individual playing the same note a different way.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]Things get a tad repetitious after awhile and the vulgarity starts to lose its impact once you’ve listened to countless unspeakable acts, mostly involving family members, the animal kingdom, and the loosening of bowels. As an example, my friend Jason Davis attended Mardi Gras in New Orleans one year, and as any viewer of late night TV will attest, the girls have gone wild. The ladies, it seems, will freely show you their bosoms in exchange for cheap plastic beads, and some don’t even want anything in return. Jason said the experience was amazing, at first, but after hours of non-stop frontal nudity, it all got a little tiring after awhile. The rampant nudity lost its effect and Jason started paying more attention to the women who actually kept their clothes on. So too is it with [i]The Aristocrats[/i], in a manner of speaking.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]The film’s unabashed vulgarity will spur guffaws and titters, especially in an “Oh-my-God-did-he/she-just-say-that?” way. But after so many tellings, things that were funny because they were taboo don’t seem as funny in repetition. It’s at this point that an audience can really appreciate comics that take unconventional routes toward telling the joke. Eric Meade does a card trick, Kevin Pollack does the joke as Christopher Walken, Mario Cantone performs the joke as Liza Minnelli, Sarah Silverman actually puts herself in the joke’s family (for my money, she gives the best performance), Penn and Teller do a magic trick with a soda bottle, there are jugglers, a ventriloquist, and even a mime. [i]The Aristocrats[/i] still has its straightforward dirty pleasures, but it’s much more satisfying when certain comics work outside the box.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]It should be obvious at this point but [i]The Aristocrats[/i] is not going to be a movie for most people. The incredibly course language and graphic accounts of lewd acts will not sit well with most of the American public. This is a movie strictly for people that have a strong stomach and like hearing a dirty joke. For that group, [i]The Aristocrats[/i] will knock you silly with laughter. My three friends whom I saw the film with said they were in pain from laughing so hard. Perhaps that speaks volumes about the company I keep.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred][i]The Aristocrats[/i] is a baudy, filthy, hilarious documentary that becomes more than a bunch of funnymen retelling a dirty joke. This is a film for a very select audience, to say the least, and it does lag at parts when the continual vulgarity loses its impact. [i]The Aristocrats[/i] also seems to be erratically edited; scenes will rapidly jump from different angles for little reason. Every comedian has their own style and every audience member will find something different to strike their funny bone. At the very end, [i]The Aristocrats[/i] invites viewers to submit their own form of the joke for the eventual DVD. I don’t know about you, but I've already got a goldmine of ideas.[/color][/font] [font=Arial][color=darkred]Nate's Grade: B[/color][/font]

• James A

  
  A boring documentary About a joke with a horrible punch line. Had this been 5 minutes long then it might have been ok. After hearing so many jokes about load I felt desencitized toward bits that I would usually laugh at.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]"The Aristocrats" is about one very old and dirty joke. The joke as told and dissected by a large selection of comedians(that having been said, what in the name of all that is holy is Carrie Fisher doing in this film?) has a wide variety of possible… More
  [font=Century Gothic]"The Aristocrats" is about one very old and dirty joke. The joke as told and dissected by a large selection of comedians(that having been said, what in the name of all that is holy is Carrie Fisher doing in this film?) has a wide variety of possible ways to tell it but it begins and ends the same. A manager walks into an agent's office and says he has a new act: one part extreme bodily functions, one part incest, one part bestiality and possibly one of violence. At the end of the joke, when asked what the act's name is, the manager replies: The Aristocrats![/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic](Sound of crickets chirping.)[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Throughout the whole documentary, only two tellings were at least amusing, the card trick and the jugglers. This is further proof that any time you have to explain what the joke is, it simply is not funny. And just because something is vulgar, does not make it funny, either. [/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"The Aristocrats" is aimless for most of its length but eventually tackles themes of boundaries, extremes and taboos. In short, once the cat is out the bag, then the shock value is gone. And it is scary that while discussing taboos, that the subject of bigotry comes up as just another line to cross.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]But the movie does lend great insight as to why mimes are the most hated minority in America.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font]

• Mike N

  
  This is really just an excuse to rate other cruddy-duddies I've somehow seen lately (mostly on the plane while reading). I went to Alabama last week. Saw Air Force One on the tarmac and had amazing BBQ (not all at once). Did you know they use potatoes the size of footballs and… More
  This is really just an excuse to rate other cruddy-duddies I've somehow seen lately (mostly on the plane while reading). I went to Alabama last week. Saw Air Force One on the tarmac and had amazing BBQ (not all at once). Did you know they use potatoes the size of footballs and fill it with BBQ chicken and all the normal fixin's? It was like some sort of cholesterol grenade. What an amazing site. Will post pics of my Philippine adventures soon. Kama koo whatski! Olly goober schmookee toot! Mabuhay!

• John B

  
  It is a very crude joke but it is absolutely fascinating to see how a number of diverse and talented individuals can tailor it to their own personal styles. Leave your puritan self at the doora nd enjoy.

• Laura C

  
  A documentary about a very dirty joke told by various comedians, each with their own take, all ending with the same punchline: "The Aristorcrats." An interesting look at the world of comedy, how comedians push the boundaries on what is acceptable and a discussion on what is… More
  A documentary about a very dirty joke told by various comedians, each with their own take, all ending with the same punchline: "The Aristorcrats." An interesting look at the world of comedy, how comedians push the boundaries on what is acceptable and a discussion on what is considered taboo. It all began several years ago as an inside joke between the cast of Saturday Night Live (Chevy Chase, etc.) and was passed around the comedy circuit. Many entertainers were featured including; Bob Saget of "Full House" fame, who happily shows us a different side of his himself, Paul Reiser. Whoopie Goildberg, Robin Williams and Gilbert Godfrey. I often preferred the women's versions of the joke (as I didn't find them completely digusting.) The joke definetly pushed the boundaries of my own comfort level but I still found the concept of the documentary very interesting.

• a b

  
  It's supposed to be vulgar and obscenely hilarious, but actually it's a monumental waste of time.

• William G

  
  An in-depth, side-splitting look into the realm of the punchline.

• Curt C

  
  Oddly enough, if you cram 100 comedians into a movie, it doesn't end up being funny. Who knew?

• Sylvester K

  
  Interesting documentary, sickening but I love the blue comedy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Read all 20 featured audience ratings