Clowning around the darkness

VULGAR (2000)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Original review from 2000

The View Askew Universe has not just included Kevin Smith's films. For those of you in the dark about View Askew or Kevin Smith, Kevin Smith is best known for writing and directing his 1994 comedic highlight, "Clerks," which made him a household name. He also owns the film company View Askew. This means that other first-time filmmakers can make a film with Smith's name attached to it. Digressing for one minute, I do recall seeing an episode of John Pierson's "Split Screen" where Kevin Smith said he would buy a videotape of Mark Borchardt's "Coven," a half-hour horror film he was trying to distribute. I think that might have been a wiser choice than "Vulgar," a wholly uneven film that never quite decides on its tone in presenting deeply disturbing subject matter.

Brian O'Halloran (best known as Dante in "Clerks") plays Will, a barely confident guy who has no real direction in life. One thing he knows for sure - he wants to take his clown act for children and make it his life's work. But Will can barely make a living considering his clown act is often at residences where the police show up daily. He should obviously expand his boundaries. His home life is a mess, his hateful mother is staying at a retirement home which he can barely afford, and his best friend, Syd (Bryan Johnson), considers him a loser. One day, Will gets the bright idea to take his clown act to bachelor parties. He will come in dressed as a clown named Vulgar and wear women's lingerie! This is coming from a man who wants to make something of himself as Flappy the Clown for children! Unfortunately, his first attempt as Vulgar ends in anal rape from three piggish men, which include a father and his two sons.

"Vulgar" starts off as a sequel to "Clerks" with O'Halloran playing the same kind of loser in that film. The tone is comical and the dialogue (written by first-time writer-director Bryan Johnson) is akin to Kevin Smith's own brand of wit. I felt some of the dialogue was forced but I was willing to go along for the ride. Then when we enter the heart of darkness with Will being brutally beaten and raped and the tone becomes far more sinister. I began to see that Johnson was aiming for something more, and O'Halloran's performance is filled with the right touch of pity and self-loathing and near suicidal-tendencies. I started to see some promise here of a real film that pulled no punches. Alas, that was not to be the case. "Vulgar" heads right back into a comical tone with cartoonish music that throws off the edge of what preceded it. It's as if Johnson had to redeem himself for showing such disturbing material. He seems to lack the courage to take it further than the average B movie, and that is a shame.

O'Halloran is at his best when showing his frail, shameful, human side. The scenes with his mother, however, are disbelieving and artificial. It is always a pleasure to see Jason Mewes (Mr. Jay himself) as some other kind of stoner who keeps guns in his basement. The scene with the rude waitress elicited a minor chuckle or two. Overall, "Vulgar" is not bottom-of-the-barrel junk aimed to exploit clowns or clownish behavior. There are highly effective scenes that show Johnson has more up his sleeve than he cares to admit. But its inconsistent tone and uneven performances make it less vulgar than intended.