The Aristocrats

Talk about a one-joke movie. Director Paul Provenza's The Aristocrats is a documentary about a scabrous, scatological riff passed down through generations of standup comics—not in their acts, but rather as a behind-the-scenes verbal handshake. The joke itself is just a simple setup and standard punch line (a guy walks into an agent's office to describe his family's act and ends by revealing that it's called “The Aristocrats”) in which each comic adds a middle section as long and disgusting as possible (think: incest, bestiality, bodily fluids and waste—the works—which is why the film was released without a rating). Although serving up an amusing excursus on the joke's history and observations on what it represents for the standup community, this film is mainly a compilation of comics presenting the joke—including Penn & Teller, George Carlin, Jason Alexander, Bob Saget (whose take is unbelievably gross—and creatively funny), Sarah Silverman, Gilbert Gottfried, and others. But though the movie features some of the biggest laughs of the year (including Billy the Mime's rendition of the joke), not all of the comics are equally adept, and in the end one joke isn't quite enough. Some will object to The Aristocrats because of the tastelessness, but the real problem here is the sheer repetitiveness. Optional. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by filmmakers Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette, 21 exclusive extended clips with the comedians (91 min.), the 16-minute featurette “Behind the Green Room Door” where the comedians tell some of their other favorite jokes, 10 minutes of clips of “Be an Aristocrat” contest winners, a six-minute “Aristocrats Do The Aristocrats” highlight reel montage, a two-minute “For Johnny Carson” clip, and trailers. Bottom line: a meaty extras package for a sometimes side-splittingly funny but often very repetitious documentary.] (F. Swietek)