The Aristocrats: Critic Reviews

It's at once a comedy, a horror film, and a hilariously unsettling testament to the deepest reality of what comedians are: rim-shot madmen, driven to seek out and destroy all that's taboo.

An essay film, a work of painstaking and penetrating scholarship, and, as such, one of the most original and rigorous pieces of criticism in any medium I have encountered in quite some time.

There's something oddly cathartic in observing dozens of comics being so silly and in sharing the hilarity with the theater audience, unsure if they should be laughing or calling the local authorities.

Under normal circumstances, nothing kills a joke faster than trying to explain it. Yet here, such examination is the film's strong suit and provides much-needed respite, quite frankly, from the exhaustion of constant laughter.

For my taste, the joke is a little too scatological for comfort.

A working demonstration of the pleasures of the profane.

The Aristocrats is most enjoyable as a series of riffs.

One of the funniest films I've seen in years.

Alone, the jokes would become a tedious, 87-minute blur. But The Aristocrats also has eloquent analyses by George Carlin, show-stealing bits by Sarah Silverman and Whoopi Goldberg, and inventive ways to keep the joke from getting stale.

A scabrously funny meditation on the idea of shock.

As The Aristocrats repeats its chorus of dirt again and again, one starts to weary. Call it filth fatigue.

... The Aristocrats proves that sometimes you don't have to be a great filmmaker to make a great documentary.

Exudes cheerfulness and expansive joy.

The Aristocrats might have made a nice short subject.

Though you'll laugh your head off, the whole film kind of morphs into a blur, with one poop/sex/abuse joke after another.

I laughed myself blue.

The film's real value is as a look at comedy and creativity.

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.

Couldn't be verbally filthier... but most will be amused by this unique, star-laden homemovie.

You'll either be screaming with laughter -- or be incredibly offended.

What the film really reveals is the role of the comedian in society and the craftsmanship of joke-writing and joke delivery.

If the Marquis de Sade had set The 120 Days of Sodom in a Catskills club, the result might have been something like The Aristocrats.

The iron rule: There ain't nothing funny about analyzing comedy. The bizarre exception: The Aristocrats..

Sometimes the profane is sacred.