Review of The Aristocrats (2005) by Justin K — 04 May 2008

It came as a surprise to me that I was actually more intrigued by the history and pervasive nature of the joke than I was amused by the retellings of the joke itself. What starts out as uncomfortably funny in the beginning becomes merely uncomfortable by the end, and once the end credits had finished rolling, I was disturbed by the realization that exposure to an hour and a half of scatological, sexual, and just plain sick humor had left me slightly jaded. References that had me cringing slightly in the beginning of the film were now easily shrugged off.

I found myself wondering how long this would last; I became concerned that my tolerance for extreme vulgarity might not return to its normal level, that overexposure would leave it permanently raised, like an abused sweater, so horribly stretched and misshapen that it never again resembles a garment intended for a normally-proportioned human.

This film is not for the faint-of-heart, nor for those who can't stomach scatological humor or humor that involves rape, abuse, incest, violence, or vulgarity in general. Even if you can stomach such humor, you may want to avoid this film if you are bothered by the idea of becoming accustomed to it. Definitely not for kids.