26 February 2006

Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic

When I saw The Aristocrats (which I thought was phenomenal, by the way), Sarah Silverman's version of the joke blew me away. Even having seen that many different versions, when you're starting to think that nothing can shock you anymore, her's was just... wow. So I was really excited to go see this, because I figured it would not only be jaw-droppingly inappropriate, but also hilarious. And I relish inappropriate yet hysterical humor. It was definitely plenty offensive, and there were some moments of real hilarity, but all in all, it was kind of a let-down.
The premise of the movie is sort of hokey; really, it's just footage of her stand-up with a plot plastered around it. Which is fine, but the premise could have been a bit funnier. The movie also features a lot of musical interludes, which generally take the form of music videos, the main purpose of which seems to be that it allows her to dress in various entertaining costumes, but whatever, it works. The songs are funny, her voice is ok, and hey, she's an attractive woman, and can pull off a lot of different looks quite convincingly.
As for the humor, at times it was absolute genius, but for the most part, it was chuckle-worthy, with a few belly laughs. At no point did I genuinely fear that I was going to wet myself. Not even close. Maybe my expectations were too high. Also, while she definitely managed to make lots of offensive jokes, but she never really managed to make me squeamish. To be fair, it's pretty hard to do. But whereas Dane Cook and David Cross can generally manage to at least make me feel someonewhat guilty about laughing, or elicit a "Daaaaamn!" that is immediately followed by hysterical laughter, I didn't really find any of the stuff that Silverman said to be particularly hardcore. But maybe that has more to do with her delivery than with the content. Or maybe I'm just a horribly insensitive human being.
In any case, amusing movie, but it didn't really sustain comedic genius for it's (somewhat short - just over an hour) duration.

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