I predict big things for good 'ole Bryan *nt*

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: : http://www.nypost.com/movies/41936.htm : : SEND IN THE CLOWN - IF YOU CAN TAKE IT : : By LOU LUMENICK : : ------------------------------------------------------------------------ : : Rating: *** : : April 26, 2002 -- : : VULGAR : : Clown comedy is no laughing matter. : : Running time: 92 minutes. Not rated (rape, violence, profanity). At : the : : Angelika, Houston and Mercer streets. : : : : TO say that "Vulgar" is not for all tastes might be the understatement : : of the year. For starters, this black comedy has a male rape scene : : that makes the one in "Deliverance" seem mild by comparison. : : "Vulgar" is the first of several micro-budgeted features from Kevin : : Smith's View Askew production company to reach the market, and : : writer-director Bryan Johnson has a much darker taste in humor : than : : his patron. : : Brian O'Halloran, best known as a hangdog convenience-store : : habitué in Smith's "Clerks," gives an extraordinarily brave and : moving : : performance as Flappy, whose work as a clown at children's parties : : in central New Jersey doesn't quite cover the bills at his monstrous : : mother's nursing home. : : So Flappy invents the alter-ego of Vulgar and places an : : advertisement offering to appear at bachelor parties in a different : kind : : of clown drag - complete with bustier and fishnet stockings. : : But Vulgar's first gig ends with him being sexually assaulted at : : knifepoint and gunpoint by a leering redneck (the truly frightening : : Jerry Lewkowitz) and his two twisted sons (Matthew Maher and : Ethan : : Suplee). : : A traumatized Flappy makes it back to the kiddie circuit, only to : : become a media celebrity when he bravely intervenes in a : : hostage-taking at a party. : : A TV producer (a very funny Smith in a very un-Silent Bob-like turn) : : signs him up for a TV show, and the ratings soon soar. But then : : Flappy starts getting blackmail demands from his assailants, who : : threaten to release a videotape of the gang rape. : : Thematically similar to the recent "Death to Smoochy," "Vulgar" is a : : more interesting, if less polished, movie. : : Johnson, who also appears as Flappy's confidant, is a veteran : : video-store clerk who packs his film with references to little-known : : films - Flappy's bathtub scene after the assault is an homage to : : "Something Wild" (1961), a groundbreaking rape drama that starred : : Carroll Baker. : : "Vulgar" prompted a mass walkout when it premiered at the Toronto : : Film Festival a year and a half ago. But for those willing to risk being : : made very uncomfortable, this instant cult classic announces the : : arrival of a distinctive new talent behind the camera.

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