56
Metascore
34 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Baltimore SunChris KaltenbachBaltimore SunChris KaltenbachA Dirty Shame is certainly dirty, and maybe it's even a shame. But this is the John Waters we've come to know and cherish, and that alone is cause to celebrate.
- 75Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversA Dirty Shame is Waters unleashed, and wicked, kinky fun for anyone except the twits who rated it NC-17.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenThe Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenJohn Waters has returned to trashy form with what is unquestionably his most outrageous film since those heady "Pink Flamingos" days.
- 60New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter RainerNew York Magazine (Vulture)Peter RainerDespite its exuberant perversities, Waters’s take on erotomania is almost quaint.
- 60VarietyDavid RooneyVarietyDavid RooneyFrequently hilarious but ultimately is a protracted one-joke affair that strays into undisciplined chaos.
- 60Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanWaters's far-from-phallocratic sexual democracy is not so much hilarious as goofy and more rousing than arousing.
- 60The A.V. ClubNathan RabinThe A.V. ClubNathan RabinEmbracing ugliness, lousy production values, and borderline hysteria as virtues, A Dirty Shame is one for the cultists, a proud retreat back into the sandbox of sexual juvenilia, a potty-mouthed manifesto from an elder statesman of shock.
- 60L.A. WeeklyElla TaylorL.A. WeeklyElla TaylorI love what his films stand for -- inclusivity, tolerance, liberation and fun -- but I’ve always felt about his movies as I do about Monty Python: Half an hour is a riot; an hour and half starts to be a chore.
- 50NewsweekDavid AnsenNewsweekDavid AnsenNever mean-spirited, A Dirty Shame has some big laughs, but it's a one-joke movie that shows its strain well before the finish line.
- 30Film ThreatPhil HallFilm ThreatPhil HallEasily the most surprising comedy of his career. The surprise: it's not funny.