The Aristocrats
Director: Paul Provenza
Year Released: 2005
Rating: 3.0
Provenza and Penn Gillette interview countless comedians regarding a timeless - although not exactly funny-in-itself - free-form joke that can be customized by the teller to the point where the telling can take as long as he/she wants, conveying every debauchery known to man (or animal). While the retelling of the joke loses its luster after a short while, the movie becomes a meditation on the current state of comedy where the telling of jokes has been superseded by observational humor, how standards as to 'what's funny' change over time (sex takes a proverbial backseat to gags about race) and the limitless possibility of humor based on the comedian's own 'style.' Although some high school video projects use the same equipment and have more fluid editing, it is almost guaranteed to make you laugh, which is all it aspires to do.
