Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Shakes the Clown Blu-ray Movie Review

Bad Clown.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 11, 2017

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 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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."

Shakes the Clown Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

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 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.