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Private Parts

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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The book gets 5 stars the movie gets 3
Review: I'm a big Howard Stern fan however, I'm giving this movie 3 stars because it falls short of living up to the geniune vulgar comedy present in the book. yeah I said vulgar and its damn funny.
This film hardly shows us Howards funny but, true childhood expereinces such as when his mother made him wear her underwear to school because all of his were dirty. We didn't see him get beat up by blacks when living in a predominantly black community. We didn't see his comical sexual experiences during his adolescent years as he described in this book. The list goes on and those were the funniest parts of the Book yet, this movie didn't take advantage of it.
It appeared Ivan Riteman (whatever way his name is spelled) chose to only focus on Howards career & marriage and put a lighthearted spin on it. Yeah, I know Howard eggxagerates his personality on the radio but, the book had more of a politically incorrect NC-17 tone to it. This Movie however, fails to capture that but, instead makes Howard into a likeable goodhearted person. That was obviously Paramount's strategy to make this film appeal to a broad mainstream audience however, That clearly backfired since it only earned 42 Million and most of that revenue came from loyal Howard Stern Fans. I think this movie could have been the funniest movie ever made if the director used Howards book as a blueprint, however it ends up being a tame watered down version of what it should have been.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: LOVE THIS MOVIE....DVD bites!
Review: One of the great films of the 90s brings what all Stern fans know already - that he's a great person, humanitarian and funny as hell - into the general public's eye. That said, stick with the HBO or USA showings or buy it on VHS. The DVD has nothing else to offer - no extras (and this movie could have TONS of extras). ...

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Great movie, coaster of a DVD
Review: Paramount is famous for this. Overpriced DVD's. They like to charge you over twenty dollars for a bare-bones DVD. No extras, nothing. Almost all of their DVD's are like this. I have been thinking about buying Wayne's World on DVD, but when I saw it's whopping price and no extras, I decided to stick with my VHS copy. You'd be highly advised to do the same with this movie.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not What You'd Expect
Review: If you think Stern delivers a 1.5 hour Ode to Flatulence you're wrong. Here we have an original comedy, presented in no off-hand manner: reportedly HS spent years researching scripts. We get a full, believable movie, not only because of the star's belief in the project but because the whole production looks and sounds right. His early years in radio are intriquing, as he searches for his own radio and personal(?) identity amidst poverty line production values. I say "radio identity" because there is no doubt that although he is called "The King Of All Media", he was made for radio - a great voice, a style of predictable unpredictability. Like, ofcourse he's going to say something wild, but *how wild this time*?
The personal story is well directed and well acted, although some Sternologists might feel that Mary McCormack's Allison is too much a stretch: the real Mrs. Stern is a successful Psychologist *and* the heart of Howard's life without the "feminist" underpinning. McCormack's performance is excellent however - particularly in the "making a baby" scene. Her matter-of-fact statement that she's "ready" is brilliantly expressed - a poignant meeting of the practical and the romantic.
Robin Quivers does a fine job of acting although she does not emote as she could have in the scene where she meets her future teammate. Stern immediately shatters all concerns of propriety as they converse on the air and Quivers has very little reaction. A person trying to build a career in radio around 1981 would have had dilated pupils at least when the thought that her career might be over any second because of some newcomer's attempt to turn the industry upside down and use her as an instrument. At the time, talking to a Newsperson on the air was not encouraged, especially talking about "private" area stuff. Whether it's faulty direction or not here is a question.
An entertaining performance is delivered by Allison Janney as Dee Dee, the (apparent) Assistant Manager or Program Director in Washington, D.C. Her acting is nuanced, with her mid-30ish character displaying great opprobrium when confronted with the iconoclast on the professional level, while suppressing a certain interest in his ideas on another.
I wish that more time could have been spent on his political viewpoints because by the end of the picture we get the uncomfortable feeling that our anti-hero is portrayed more as just another show business exponent with another bag of gimmicks than a real original. Maybe in an expanded DVD edition we'll see (presumed to exist) unused footage containing commentary on non-show business subjects.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Damned Funny!
Review: This is the crudest, rudest, movie I have ever seen, probably even with the most nudity, and yet, it's funny! I've never seen anything like this, you'll never see anything like this. Lesbians, and sex is the main discussion topics of the movie, and this is also a biography! Great Fun!!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: 'Annie Hall' in blue.
Review: Before 'Private Parts', Howard Stern was a virtual unknown round these parts, at best a shady creature of rumour. Whereas for an American audience, presumably familiar with the dj's shock-shtick, the film has a nostalgic impulse, offering a quaint re-run of censorship- and taste-baiting episodes; this material was new to us - the shock-jock phenomenon has had very little impact in a Europe long inured to shock. So some of the material was predictable and juvenile; the on-air naked masseuse or the proxy orgasm; some of it was simply funny, such as the 'fill-in-the-blanks' word-game after rude words are banned by WNBC management; but some of it was genuinely unsettling, in particular Stern's personal jokes on radio in reaction to his wife's miscarriage. It shows the unexpected extent to which Stern has made you care for his characters in spite of yourself, that your laughs at this point are uncomfortable at best.

Stern is ostensibly telling his life-story to a pretty woman on an airplane. Originally repulsed by his reputation as a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, foul-mouthed jock, she admits, in his words, that he grows on you, like fungus, and this is the effect his film has. In a weird way, Stern is a kind of soft-rock Woody Allen, adapting the intellectual loser/little man, New York Jewish persona in a pseudo-autobiographical tale that has him walking through the important episodes of his life. There is even a (parodic) allusion to Ingmar Bergman (an obscene puppet show staged for an old folks' home), and a cameo by Mia Farrow. Stern is a film-maker manque, who made an award-winning short at college.

While Allen's self-absorption tends towards negation and psychic self-flagellation, Stern's is whitewashing and self-congratulatory - but the intense egotism has the same effect: you initially resist, you eventually succumb. Stern becomes engaging, not because you buy the self-pity of the sickly happy-families routine or the 'it's only an act' justifications, but because his limited acting talent fits in ingratiatingly with the vignette-structure, which bypasses psychological realism to achieve a cartoon honesty. His spat with WNBC won't tell you anything about the state of the American media, or the corporate suppression of free speech, but it does tell you a lot about Stern, consistently anxious about being 'a real man', and his need to find a ridiculous straw target he can knock down and emasculate to feel good. Significantly, the film finishes in 1985, with Stern at his peak, and nowhere else to go. It would have been more interesting to see how he dealt with THAT pressure, than the old loser-rises-to-the-top story. The film IS misogynistic, not at the obvious, demeaning level, but in the way women simply exist to make Stern whole, whether it is his anchorwoman or his angelic wife. They have no lives or reasons to be outside his needs.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A very funny movie - not what you might expect
Review: I had heard of Howard Stern before this film came out, usually in the context of some trouble he'd got himself into through his radio show, but as I live in England, I had never heard his show. Opinions ranged from "genius" to "drivel", but most people agreed that Stern set out to shock and most of the time succeeded. The film doesn't shock that much, but it is very funny. It is basically the story of Stern's life and career, told very much from his point of view and featuring Stern himself in the lead role. Stern makes a good job of this and is a genuinely endearing character. He retains the audience's sympathy even when he is seen to treat his wife badly, but especially when he faces the crass radio bosses who don't understand his humour. For authenticity, Stern's co-peroformers in the radio show play themselves, and Robin Quivers shows herself to be a good actress as well as a professional radio host.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A little too self-congratulatory
Review: Howard Stern delivers a pretty standard, formulaic account of his rise to the top of the radio industry. His struggles with radio management are generally well-done, but the parts about his private life are not as interesting. To its credit, the film does not shy away from some of the difficulties in the Stern marraige. Nevertheless, the generally glowing tone comes off as a bit odd in the wake of their divorce. After all, Alison's primary complaint seems to have been the way that Howard aired the intimate details of their private life on his radio show. Now they are depicted on film for all to see.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Stern Delivers!
Review: This film is one of the best films I have ever seen. I mean that when I describe PRIVATE PARTS. It's one of those few films that COMPLETELY fulfilled my expectations. It made me laugh, cry, and think. Stern and Company outdo themselves in this film. Whether you're a fan of Stern or not, you'll enjoy this movie. It's one of my Top Ten films of all time. I recommend it to EVERYONE.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: WHY STERN IS THE KING OF ALL MEDIA
Review: There are people who love him, and there are people who hate him. And then, there are people who really, REALLY hate him. But, love him or hate him, this movie should be seen by everyone.

This movie is based on Howard's Stern's life, and how he got into radio. You'll see a bunch of interesting characters, good and bad, who impact his life in some manner. You'll learn how Howard struggled and fought his way to the top while others doubted him and called him a moron, (mostly his father). And, you'll also see him take on evil top guys in radio as they try to censor the shock jock.

I wasn't really a fan of Howard Stern, until I saw this movie, and that's why I think everyone should see this. Who knows, maybe you'll like him more after watching it. The movie shows that Howard is a real person who's trying to make it in the world by doing what he does best, being himself, even if it means raising a few eyebrows. Because of this film, I now listen to his show religiously every morning, and also listen to other talk shows on the radio as well.

This is an outstanding film, filled with humor and more. "Private Parts" should be on everyone's list of movies to see. After watching this movie, you will realize why Howard is the king of all media


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