Margaret Cho: Revolution

Margaret Cho is angry, and justifiably so: the list of things the standup comic/social activist/force of nature hates includes racism, the cultural pressures placed on women to be thin, President Bush, and ex-boyfriends (for starters), all fine things for a smart gal to get worked up about. But her rants on the state of her world, captured in this concert film shot in Los Angeles in May 2003, are either too facile (isn't it funny how no one has explained to Bush by now how to pronounce "nuclear"), too scatological (like her tale of how one idiotic diet caused her to lose control of her bowels), or too obvious (Hollywood stereotypes Asian women as crazy liquor-store owners or exotic prostitutes). There's no question that she's preaching to a particular choir comprised of urban, liberal, and educated folk, but even some of the members of that buy-in choir will find her sermon tedious. Optional. (M. Johanson)