Clowns – Ihr Lachen bringt den Tod (1991)

Clowns – Ihr Lachen bringt den Tod: Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait. With Bobcat Goldthwait, Julie Brown, Bruce Baum, Steve Bean. Shakes is good at his job as party clown – when he’s sober and shows up. Five druggy clowns frame him for the murder of his boss.

“A reviewer at the Boston Globe once called this, u0026quot;The Citizen Kane of alcoholic clown movies.u0026quot; Given the number of points of comparison, who could argue?u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI was reminded of this when I recently saw the 2003 movie, u0026quot;Bad Santau0026quot; — which was a similar one-joke, cynical comedy about an obnoxious alcoholic employed as a character meant to bring joy into the lives of children. (The name u0026quot;Shakesu0026quot; takes on a whole new meaning when the lead character attempts to detox.) If that one joke works, so goes the movie. So for comparison, I recently rented it not long after seeing u0026quot;Bad Santa.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhile Bad Santa received a great number of favorable critical reviews, this movie wasnu0026#39;t as fortunate. Upon further review, I have to say that this movie never got the credit it deserved.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIs it a great movie? Oh no. This is a movie that attempts to be so bad and foul, rolling in its own filth, that best targets people with the right, low-expectation mindset. But you could also say that of u0026quot;Thereu0026#39;s Something About Mary.u0026quot;u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt employs humor in some of the background scenes a la u0026quot;Airplane.u0026quot; Its use of cheesy 70s actors is pure genius and helps complete the joke. (Nevermind Robin Williams, an early Adam Sandler, and the then-future voice of Sponge Bob Squarepants as the evil Binky the Clown.) If you can manage a smirk during John Watersu0026#39; u0026quot;Mondo Trasho,u0026quot; youu0026#39;ll likely find the movie to be quite funny overall.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s Bobcatu0026#39;s opus, and its no wonder he never really made much of anything since; the same was true for Orson Wells after u0026quot;Citizen Kaneu0026quot;…”