It's a cliche that most comics want to do serious drama sometime during their career - a weeper, a thriller, Shakespeare. But Bobcat Goldthwait has written and directed an intended comedy for himself that is so devoid of laughs it may just be mistaken for drama. Bad drama.
"Shakes the Clown" is a sick-joke twist on what we expect clowns to be. Goldthwait stars as the title character, an alcoholic who performs at children's parties though he doesn't seem to like kids - or anyone else for that matter.A fantasy where everyone who plays a clown lives the role, dressing in costume 24 hours a day, the film is set in Palookaville. There, clowns come in various social classes, drinking at the local clown bar, performing feats of magic for kids' birthdays and dreaming of the day when they will be chosen to host the local cartoon TV show.
When the clown who hosts the show is fired, it's thought that Shakes will get the job. But it instead goes to a cocaine-snorting jerk who ultimately commits murder and frames Shakes. The rest of the film is chase as Shakes and his friends try to rescue his girlfriend (Julie Brown) from the clutches of the evil clown.
Like "Killer Klowns From Outer Space" and the current "Batman Returns," "Shakes the Clown" takes the familiarity we have with clowns as friends of children and laugh-a-minute caricatures and attempts to deflate it with dark humor. These clowns drink, smoke, cheat on their girlfriends and even do drugs. But there's nothing particularly inventive or clever about the way Goldthwait handles his own material.
Even such inspired touches as having a subculture of clowns - rodeo clowns - and unexpected cameo appearances by Florence Henderson and Robin Williams are blown. It should have been hilarious to see Mrs. Brady in the film's first scene as a boozy floozy, but Goldthwait throws it away with vulgar jokes about vomiting and urinating. And even Williams, as a mime - clowns hate mimes in this world - gets no laughs as he teaches a classroom full of hopefuls how to climb imaginary walls.
"Shakes the Clown" is sick but whether it's a joke is a matter of taste. And this film is about as tasteless as they come.
It is rated R for a continuous stream of of vulgar gags, profanity, violence and drugs.