Shakes the Clown Blu-ray offers solid video and decent audio, but overall it's a mediocre Blu-ray release
Shakes plods about his duties as party clown, and uses all of his free time getting seriously drunk. Binky, another clown, wins the spot on a local kiddie show, which depresses Shakes even more, and his boss threatens him with unemployment if he can't get his act under control. When someone murders Shakes' boss and makes it look like Shakes did it, he goes undercover, posing as a hated mime, and tries to find information that will clear his name.
For more about Shakes the Clown and the Shakes the Clown Blu-ray release, see Shakes the Clown Blu-ray Review published by Martin Liebman on August 11, 2017 where this Blu-ray release scored 2.5 out of 5.
Shakes the Clown was Bad Santa before Billy Bob Thornton turned the world's most famously
fictional
jolly fat man bearing gifts and smiles into a slovenly, womanizing, drunken thief. Writer/Director Bobcat Goldthwait's 1991 film does the same for
clowns, his picture depicting a down-on-his-luck entertainer as a perpetually drunken slob with aspirations to quit the bottle and do something with
his life.
Complications, unsurprisingly, abound, from both expected rivals and unexpected enemies. The film is darkly humorous, playing better in comedic
spurts rather than in its subtle-not-subtle study of the clown condition. Hardly a great film but offering enough memorable moments keep it
hanging on as a minor cult favorite, Shakes the Clown manages to entertain with its blend of slapstick, adult humor, and curious
glimpse into the life and times of a walking dichotomy, bright and fun on the outside, dark and empty on the inside.
Shakes. Clown.
Shakes (Bobcat Goldthwait) may be a great clown, but he's not a particularly good person. He's perpetually drunk and barely gets by in life,
never
mind making his appointments and properly entertaining his pint-sized clientele. One morning, he awakens in a bathroom, is inadvertently doused
by
a stream of urine, and discovers he's hooked up with another nobody. He eventually falls in with a waitress named Judy (Julie Brown) who must
have thing for men like Shakes, because she is unusually clingy to her colorful "prize." Meanwhile, Shakes is up for a spot on a clown-centric TV
show, which his pals hope he wins because he'll assuredly invite them onto the show and
more notoriety means more women for them. But when a rival clown named Binky (Tom Kenny) gets in the way, and Shakes finds himself framed
for
murder, the rush is on to save himself in more ways than one.
The movie can be a bit slow and prone to meandering at times, traits not particularly expected of a film that clocks in at under 90 minutes in
length.
It's often random and off the wall in its exploration of clown life behind the makeup and and beyond the back yard family atmospheres, but it's also
dark and personal, exploring the depths of human emotion and the struggles of addiction. Beyond the colorful makeup and more colorful language
lies an
interesting contrast of human hide and seek. The film explores the real man under the makeup, juxtaposing the inner flaws with the outer cheer to
the point that the two often become one, each strangely, creepily, and tellingly complimenting the other. Even as some of these plot threads
manifest,
and obviously so towards the end, Shakes still works better as a low-down dirty humor type of film. That definitely dominates, but
Goldthwait
still manages to pull the ends tightly enough to bring them closer to even, sometimes to the film's benefit and sometimes to its detriment.
The film's blend of sophomoric drunken antics and more slyly serious human study may not work all the time, but the performances are largely
spot-on from start to end. Goldthwait, who pulls triple duty writing, directing, and playing the lead, juggles all three admirably, delivering a
believably complex performance that lacks nuance but doesn't lack truth as the character is defined at his most fundamental level. Shakes'
complexities are revealed and
explored as a combination of all three of Goldthwait's efforts, crafting the character on paper, expanding him in performance, and exploring him
through the lens. The character and film certainly lack polish; it's all a bit rough around the edges and crude at the center while suffering from
those pacing problems, but in a way that's a
complimentary style, one that heightens the audience's awareness of the character's struggles, place in life, and his wayward direction and
priorities.
Support performances from Julie Brown and Tom Kenny are excellent, while the film further enjoys work from comic legends Adam Sandler and
Robin Williams, the latter of whom is credited as "Marty Fromage."
Shakes the Clown is another Mill Creek catalogue Blu-ray releasing with an MPEG-2 encode. The 1080p transfer holds strong, however, offering
what is generally an attractive and largely filmic image. Grain retention is pleasantly consistent, largely even, unobtrusive, and complimentary and only
spiking into a sharper, snowier or noisier pattern as scenes grow increasingly dark. Barroom interiors are a good example, where the lower light can
render
blacks and shadow details a bit below ideal. Colors -- all of the clown makeup and attire -- lose some of their vitality in these scenes, too, but brighter
exteriors reveal enough punchy diversity to please, highlighting traditional clown colors like red and green. Details are by-and-large strong, with
closeups revealing fine-point facial stubble, often mixed in with face paint, offering one of the more interesting and organic surfaces in the film.
Clothes,
environments, and various nicknacks around the frame hold relatively sharp and clear, too. Print wear is very minor and serious, distracting
compression artifacts are very few and far between.
Shakes the Clown's LPCM 2.0 uncompressed soundtrack carries the movie well enough. It's never particularly wanting for added surround
depth, and front end extension is largely satisfactory. Music pushes out nicely, delivering clear, accurate notes that cannot match a more finely tuned
track but that do carry the movie's general music needs well enough. Support effects present with solid imaging and sense of place, while general
atmospherics -- din at a child's birthday party, billiards and other bits inside a barroom -- help draw the listener in, even without a real sense of total
immersion. Dialogue is the primary driver here, and it's suitably clear, usually finding a comfortable center-imaged location but occasionally adrift out
in between the center and one side or another. Overall, however, the track delivers a good baseline listen.
Note that, for whatever reason, the disc defaults the included English SDH subtitles to "on."
Mill Creek's Blu-ray release of Shakes the Clown contains one extra, a commentary track with Writer/Director/Actor Bobcat Goldthwait and
Actors Tom Kenny and Julie Brown, who are imaged across the front left to right in that order. The track offers a nicely tuned combination of insightful
thoughts
and jovial banter. It's often more fun than the movie and fans will find it a worthwhile listen.
Shakes the Clown is no great shakes, but it is a solid, though certainly rough-around-the-edges, Dark Comedy that doesn't do its thing as well
as
Bad Santa (the first one, anyway, not the abysmal second) but that does craft an interesting glimpse into the life of a man
whose outer color
and cheer is countered by his inner darkness and depravity. It could certainly benefit from a tightening of all areas, but the film manages to entertain,
largely, despite some slowdowns and bouts of randomness getting in the way of the train wreck laughs and deeper contemplative structure. Mill Creek's
Blu-ray delivers solid video and serviceable audio. The supplemental package is limited to an enjoyable audio commentary track. Recommended to fans
considering the price and the decent picture quality.
Use the thumbs up and thumbs down icons to agree or disagree that the title is similar to Shakes the Clown. You can also suggest completely new similar titles to Shakes the Clown in the search box below.
Mill Creek Entertainment will release on Blu-ray Shakes the Clown (1991), starring : Bobcat Goldthwait, Julie Brown, Blake Clark, Paul Dooley, and Kathy Griffin. The release will be available for purchase on July 11.
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Use the thumbs up and thumbs down icons to agree or disagree that the title is similar to Shakes the Clown. You can also suggest completely new similar titles to Shakes the Clown in the search box below.
