The Aristocrats (2005)
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 147
Fresh: 117 | Rotten: 30
Can a joke stand up to repeated tellings? Hilarious and revealing of the way comedy works, The Aristocrats demonstrates that it's possible.
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Critic Reviews: 42
Fresh: 35 | Rotten: 7
Can a joke stand up to repeated tellings? Hilarious and revealing of the way comedy works, The Aristocrats demonstrates that it's possible.
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Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 86,422
Movie Info
"A family walks into a talent agent's office..." So begins "The Aristocrats," a joke kept mostly secret by stand-up comedians for decades. An intentionally "bad" joke, the laughs in The Aristocrats aren't in the punch-line (one of the only elements that's the same every time), but in the set-up, made unique by each comedian who tells it in an attempt to fashion the world's dirtiest joke. The cat was finally let out of the bag by Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza, the seasoned funnymen who gathered
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All Critics (151) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (117) | Rotten (30) | DVD (28)
The first feel-good movie made out of fecal matter.
This all-star open-mike night loses its luster before its own loud laughter dies down.
... The Aristocrats proves that sometimes you don't have to be a great filmmaker to make a great documentary.
What the film really reveals is the role of the comedian in society and the craftsmanship of joke-writing and joke delivery.
Let me reiterate. This movie is really, really dirty.
See it if you aren't too jaded to appreciate a few laughs in these mostly mirthless times.
A joyful film, full of men and women alight with the pleasure that comes from negating every compliment civilization has ever paid itself.
A plethora of comedians discuss and tell their own inspired rendition of "the dirtiest joke in the world" in a contagiously funny documentary that symptomatically gives context to the lasting influence of vaudeville humor.
Each take on the gag reveals a different facet of comic technique.
Its very about-itself unimportance is what makes it a liberating experience for its own sake.
A tedious dud that sparks once or twice with big laughs
...the brilliant Sarah Silverman transcends the mean-spirited nature of the joke...
In its simplest form, the joke isn't funny; it's all in the telling, and Provenza proves once again that some people can tell a joke, and some people can't.
With a showman's respect for the power of the build-up, Provenza touts his product thoroughly before unveiling it.
Vile, vulgar and occasionally funny, The Aristocrats is literally a one joke movie%u2026 I was bored...
A stunning comedy masterclass. For those with strong stomachs, obviously...
A brilliant solution to the eternal problem of how to discuss the creative process behind comedy without becoming boring.
Mesmo que repetitivo ao procurar analisar o significado social da graça da piada e contendo algumas performances terrivelmente medíocres, o filme ganha um fôlego invejável sempre que algum comediante inspirado surge em cena.
Laughs of discomfort or of the 'ewwww gross' variety are not really the same as good hearty laughs. You'll need a shower afterwards.
It's not just a joke for the john, it's a joke for an entire sewage system.
There's an unevenness to the film, and, frankly, I rarely found it funny, but I never found it less than fascinating and invariably entertaining.
For those of us who can handle a heaping helping of shock talk, the reward of The Aristocrats lie in our ability to focus a critical spotlight on ourselves.
Within a single joke, The Aristocrats unlocks an entire universe of comedy.
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