Fuck (2005)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Steve Anderson

Release Date:

10 November 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

The movie that dare not speak its name

Plot:

A documentary on the expletive's origin, why it offends some people so deeply, and what can be gained from its use.

Plot Keywords:

Free Speech | Word | Interview | Comedian | Controversial

Cast

Reinhold Aman	...	Himself
Steven Bochco	...	Himself
Pat Boone	...	Himself
Benjamin C. Bradlee	...	Himself (as Ben Bradlee)
Drew Carey	...	Himself
Chuck D.	...	Himself
Billy Connolly	...	Himself
John Crossley	...	Himself
Sam Donaldson	...	Himself
Janeane Garofalo	...	Herself
Ice-T	...	Himself
Timothy Jay	...	Himself
Ron Jeremy	...	Himself
Alan Keyes	...	Himself
Janet LaRue	...	Herself

Also Known As:

F*ck (USA) (poster title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Canada:R (Ontario) | Australia:R (2006) | Singapore:R21 (cut) | Japan:R-18 | South Korea:18 | New Zealand:R18 | UK:18 | Iceland:7

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Bad Apple Films

Trivia:

The films director Steve Anderson asked Kevin Smith for special permission to use clips from his films Clerks (1994) and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001), when he heard about the project he gave Anderson permission and also asked if he could appear in the documentary himself.

Quotes:

Janeane Garofalo: Would you like to have sexual congress with my vagina?

Movie Connections:

Features "Deadwood" (2004)

Soundtrack:

A Chat with Your Mother

not quite long enough to really dig into it all, but as a term-paper-type look, it's not bad, and even funny

How do I talk about a film where I can't even mention its title in this review (in the IMDb comments the word of the title of this film cannot be put in, unless in the form of f*ck or sh*t)? I can talk mostly then about how the filmmakers go around the use of the word f*ck. F*ck is the word that gets everyone's ear up, and depending on the context or meaning behind it can get some people riled up enough to do something about it- like reporting to the FCC on violations if done on TV or radio. The hypocrisies and oddities are of course on display, like with the now legendary George Carlin 'Dirty Words' case where the one and only person to report that the segment played on the radio was wrong was on the Decency board in the 70s. Or, of course, Lenny Bruce, who also had a fight that he ended up losing miserably, however much he paved the way for everyone else in his field. There's also a good segment done on the f word in politics and religion, even in poetry (I'll have to look through Ulysses now to see where it's at).

But even with the laughs that are obvious to come with such a given for scandalous material, including various movie clips featuring said word (Pulp Fiction, Punch-Drunk Love, South Park, Scarface), and even with the Presidential utterances and sound-bytes of the word (Nixon's the most obvious yet still unnerving), and even with some of the interviewees really giving some food for f***ing thought on the subject (Billy Connolly is arguably the funniest, with HST being low-key and observant, and Allen Keyes and Pat Boone delivering very straight-laced answers) with the two-side arguments, there doesn't seem quite enough here to be totally satisfying. In fact, the structure, however hokey and joyful in its wicked little ways, has to start delivering on more interesting grounds. Maybe it's just me, but by around the 100th time one's heard the word in such a span of several minutes, the word has already lost all of its power (albeit given context by a scene of coitus on a music stage, a very controversial story at the time, among others), and there should be even more dirt available, aside from the usual historical asides. For example, I would've liked to have seen more on the F-word in music (where's the MC5 when you need em?), or the section of children, which should be a topic that could at least cover a lot more of the film, especially since the filmmakers obviously want to leave it as something of a climax...so to speak.

Yet, if you want a successfully shallow, goofy take on the subject that might raise some eyebrows and just be another night watching a DVD for others (who knows if the record setting 800 times is just another night at the bar for some guys), it's worth the rental. I'm glad the filmmakers took the equal-time interviews for those who are in it all-not that it occasionally preaches to the choir- and that the bases covered are given enough coverage to get a full understanding of how such an infamous word can become even more so in the 21st century, under a government that has raised the ante on the conservative agenda within the free speech guidelines, and that the censorship ends up spreading to other areas as well. Bleep, I say.