Review of Vulgar (Theatrical Version)

Introduction

View Askew Productions is synonymous with Kevin Smith, so from the same stable comes Vulgar, a debut from writer/director Bryan Johnson.

Brian O`Halloran plays Flappy the clown, a guy pretty much living hand to mouth trying to eek some kind of living entertaining at childrens parties. Things aren`t going too well though and he suddenly hits upon the idea of an `adult` version of clown entertainment for bachelor parties, and creates a clown in drag called, `Vulgar`. One job though has severe consequences for Vulgar as he`s raped and filmed by a trio of rednecks.

Not long afterwards, Flappy aka Vulgar the clown aides the rescue of a child in a hostage situation, he becomes a celebrity and is asked to host his own childrens television show. From an extreme low to an all time high has its price however and his abusers decide to play a little blackmail with the video they made. With a scandal in the offing, Flappy/Vulgar has to try and put a stop to this nightmare scenario.

For those wondering if Kevin appears in it, he does feature in a small cameo as a gay TV producer, as does Jason Mewes (better known as Jay in his partnering with Silent Bob). Kevin`s role is different to how we`ve come to perceive him as Silent Bob, while Jason Mewes seems to play one type of character who`s always high!

Video

The 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer here is telling of a low budget film. It`s shot on 16mm so it retains the soft low res and sometimes grainy look. On the whole the colours are reproduced well is a little restrained in some shots. There`s little dirt, grain or damage to get in the way either so it`s perfectly watchable.

Audio

Well reproduced as either Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0, the sound sounds good, it`s clear and without distortion or hiss. Dialogue is well placed from the centre while the music covers the front well. There`s little use of the surrounds however.

Features

There are quite a few extras here. First up, the excellent commentary track with Kevin Smith, Monica Hampton (producer), Scott Mosier (exec producer/editor), Bryan and Brian. In a word, funny. If you`ve listened to an audio commentary with Kevin Smith, then you know what you can expect. It`s well worth listening to and had me in stitches!

There are 12 deleted scenes, all anamorphically enhanced. Good to see, these just add a little more to the film but rather than change the tone or pace, these were deleted. Comes complete with a 6 minute intro from cast and crew.

One of the strange sections is the film festival feature. Five festivals from around the world rejected Vulgar and here the letters are produced for you to read complete with circus music in the background. Of course, all names have been hidden to protect...

And finally, "Judge Not, In Defence of Dogma". This 37 minute documentary is about the trials of Dogma and its religious critics upon the concepts brought to the fore by the film. It makes for interesting viewing where you get the cast and crew interpretations of what went on and possibly why. It`s a shame this isn`t available on anything else other than this DVD.

This is a good package for a low budget feature.

Conclusion

This is an interesting one. While the film itself is average, the extras on this disc are very good. Amongst them the numerous deleted scenes and the 37 minute documentary, "Judge Not...in defense of Dogma". Everything is really enjoyable, while the film itself remains so-so. Bear in mind that this is the unrated version of the DVD, as there is a rated version too with fewer extras and a trimming here and there.

To me it seems that the script is lacking character development. For a film with serious moments to consider, there are holes in character motivation and this is something that makes me think it`s got an all too flippant attitude to the issue of sexual abuse. Does it want us to take it seriously? Any film with a scene like this would seem a little serious to me, not to be taken too lightly. I know it`s not a film about rape, but still, why have it if you`re not going to deal with it?

The film also goes off on tangents and there`s no real comeback for Flappy, the main character. Yes he does triumph in the end, the bad guys being bad get what they deserve, but I got the sense that the victory was a little hollow. I wouldn`t have thought that such a traumatic event would lead to things to happen on the plus side so easily for the clown. Even if he were too traumatised to just block the evil out of his head, there`s no sense of the memory afterwards, no reliving of the pain that one might go through. There was just one scene where Vulgar breaks down at home afterwards, but it`s a minor scene and it deals with the whole idea in one fallow swoop.

What does this film want to be? A tragedy with a dark sense of humour? Okay, an average guy who`s down on his luck makes good, along the way he gets attacked and exacts some measure of revenge. I have a weird and twisted sense of humour, but the way this film played out just didn`t make a lot of sense to me. I never cared about what happens.

Should you buy it? This is where there are divided audiences. Some think Vulgar is great, others think it`s awful. I think Vulgar is an average movie and I`ve certainly seen a lot worse.

I think it`s worth seeing as Smith fans are likely to do so anyway. The extras on the unrated disc are certainly very good, but unfortunately the film`s just not much cop. Worth renting, but I think it`ll come as a disappointment for Kevin Smith fans thinking that this is another quality View Askew Productions film. Sadly it`s nowhere in the same ballpark.