Vulgar
(2000)
review by Don't Feed the Dead

Right off the bat, I'm gonna tell you that some of y'all are gonna flat out hate Vulgar. The movie is definitely not suitable for everyone, and it takes a strong will to weather the horrible acting and vicious male to male rape scenes. Co-produced by Kevin Smith (of Jay & Silent Bob fame), Vulgar is filled with a tremendous amount of black humor and a slew of uncomfortable situations. Vulgar's "theme" can be summarized in one simple sentence: Preserved innocence faces the harsh reality of an apathetic present day society. Although this theme has been dragged through the mud, oft used in teenage awareness flicks, it's presented in a unique and hard hitting manner.

Will Carlson (O'Halloran) is a child party clown named Flappy, who feels that his niche in society is to preserve the innocence of children through wholesome family party fun. Unfortunately for Will, he lives in a seedy area of town, and witnesses the downside of society's apathetic approach to "victimization" on a regular basis. Our first encounter with Flappy is at a small girl's party, where he pulls up late and only to find that the police are at the house in the middle of arresting daddy for poppin' momma in the mouth.
Flappy shows us a glimpse of his innocence by not chargin momma for arriving at the party and hands the little girl a boquet of flowers to cheer her up. Cut to the diner where Will is having a meal with his best friend Syd, and the two are discussing how Will could make a better living. Will's concerns lie within the desire to make people happy, but Syd keeps reminding him that happiness isn't always where the green grows (amen). Will and Syd then concoct the idea that maybe Will should taylor his act to adult audiences and give them a Vulgar clown act. Vulgar the clown, yeah that name sticks.....

Will's first gig as Vulgar takes him to a hotel room where he's invited in, only to find three ghastly looking rednecks. The rednecks knock the shit out of Will (as Vulgar) and proceed to drug him. The video tape starts a rollin' and Daddy redneck begins the rape assault on poor Will. Will wakes up all bloodied and violated, displaying great pains in his ass and mouth. He stumbles out the door and begins a wayward path towards depression and antisocial activity. A deep heart to heart with Syd (which makes the two look like a homosexual couple) leads Will out of his depression and back into the life of Flappy the clown. Will is determined to get his life back together, overcome the assault, and become the best damn party clown ever!

Whilst on his way to another Flappy gig, Will comes across the same house he visited previously, where daddy was arrested for beatin his wife. This time, the cops are all surrounding the house and apparently, daddy has taken his daughter hostage and has a gun to her head. In the name of preserving justice, Will (as Flappy) storms the back entrance of the house and defuses the situation by knocking daddy through the front door. Suddenly, Flappy has become an icon for vigilante justice. Unfortunately for Flappy, success is short lived, cuz the bastards that raped him call him up and threaten to release the video of him being raped to the national public unless he gives the trio another vulgar session.

Vulgar to me is a modern day parallel of J.D. Salinger's "A Catcher in the Rye". Innocence is presented at the opening of the movie, with the main character desperately trying to preserve the good in his life. Unfortunately, time after time he is reminded of failure and the evil endeavors of society, until he snaps and becomes the icon for vigilante justice. All too often this is the case in "real life", where victims feel so helpless that they either give up or turn to their own form of retribution. Interestingly enough, this is the way that society accepts how life now operates. Criminals have free range over the country while the average Joe gets violated on a regular basis. Unfortunately, when Joe decides to strike back against the criminal masses, he takes the slap on the wrist for bringing justice into his own yard. Go figure.......