The film Vulgar has been railed against as having been aptly named in reviews everywhere. I’m about to go against that grain. (Shocking, I know.) This movie was brilliant. You won’t think so at first, and maybe not even right after it ends… but if you sit and think, you likely will. I thought it so after the first 30 minutes.
Vulgar is not in anyway your typical Kevin Smith movie. Far from it. This is a very serious film dealing with things that will not sit well with the majority of you at all. Some of you will turn it off and not be able to see it through to it’s conclusion. It’s just that shocking.
It’s about a guy named Will. All Will wants in life is to be Flappy the Clown and be able to pay his bills doing so. He enjoys kids in a wholesome way and, given who he was raised by, that’s pretty surprising.
Well, in the war to make ends meet and keep his biatch of a mother in her nursing home, he comes up with this idea that he could expand his clowning gig. He wants to do bachelor parties as a gag. Show up in full clown regalia, only with fishnets and a bustier. See, he figures the bachelor will be expecting some hot hoochie mama to strip for him… then Will shows up. Actually, I think that would have been funny. It should have worked… but his first customers for his new alter-ego, Vulgar the Clown, are not real nice fellas. This gets brutal. I’m telling you again, this is not light hearted at all. This is a very dark film.
Vulgar wasn’t real high budget, it even got turned down by numerous film festivals such as Sundance and Telluride… yet it was very well made. The slight grittiness adds to the atmosphere of the thing. The acting was superb.
Brian O’Halloran was Will/Flappy. No, I mean he was Will/Flappy… in the truest sense. He lived and breathed this part. You know him as Dante Hicks from Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, or any/all of Kevin Smiths other ventures. This is O’Halloran like you’ve not seen him before.
Bryan Johnson wrote, directed, edited, and starred in this one as Will’s best friend, Syd Gilbert. Excellent job on all counts but one. Johnson is a force to be reckoned with. He is a very good actor… very very good, and his direction was top notch. The script was inspired. The only fault is the editing. The voices weren’t quite sinqued here.. they were like a split-second off the mouths, which can be a little distracting. Kudos to Johnson over-all though. This is a guy to keep an eye on.
Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier were the producers and also had small roles, along with Jason Mewes. I mean ya can’t have Silent Bob without Jay, right? Well… that’s not the roles they played here, but then those characters had no place whatsoever in this serious film. I still enjoyed seeing them together in any event.
There are some really great extras on the DVD. In fact, one of the Special Features is called In Defense of Dogma and is alone worth the price of the DVD even if you never watch Vulgar… It also has all the Film Festival responses to Vulgar’s submission, some deleted scenes, trailers, etc.
Vulgar is Rated R for disturbing sexual violence, some shootings and strong language. That is a very hard R. You know how I am if you’ve followed my movie reviews. I’m very lenient on what I let kids watch. I’m telling you 18 and up this time... and some adults won’t be able to handle the subject matter. Don’t think for a minute I’m kidding on this one. The bad guys are your worst nightmare and are portrayed very realistically. Men are going to have a very hard time with the rape scene… I cannot warn you enough.
Having said that, I will state again: This film is brilliant. I’m giving Vulgar a full 5 stars without any hesitation. Just realize it is not for the faint of heart, and not at all what you have come to expect Kevin Smith to have a hand in.
Everybody loves a clown… some more than others.
