PREMIERE.COM'S REVIEW (posted 10/24/06)

Use of the "F word" may not be a harbinger of the decline of Western civilization as many in the new documentary Fuck suggest, but the recent trend of gutter-humor documentaries just may be. The Aristocrats (2005), which documented the evolution of an absurdly dirty joke, bombarded the audience with filth in order to desensitize it. The constant retelling eventually allowed us to be in on the joke, which was, essentially, that there was none. The excessiveness was essential to the concept. Fuck, on the other hand, is just plain giddy at finding a way to curse in school (more than 800 times by its own count). It's chock full of linguists, comedians, talk show hosts, musicians and porn stars pontificating on the origins, meanings and social value of the English language's most infamous four-letter word.

The late gonzo journalist Hunter Thompson, to whom the film is dedicated says, "I've seen plenty of evil in the world but it's not in the word 'fuck.'" There is an attempt at equal time; conservative talk show host Dennis Prager declares that if you can't see the difference between saying "fuck" in your home vs. broadcasting it over the airwaves, then "you are an idiot."

The film is also filled with clips of other movies featuring the word, with little explanation as to what makes each significant. You can imagine the filmmakers giggling like grade-schoolers looking up curse words in the dictionary. One notable exception is the contrast of Brian De Palma's notoriously excessive Scarface (1983) and Kevin Smith's comedy Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back (2001). While Smith's film dropped the F-bomb more often, by 2001 audiences were so numb to the language it barely registered as offensive.

At times, the film becomes a defender of the First Amendment as well as an all-out assault on the FCC and the Bush Administration (complete with back-to-back clips of father and son flipping their respective birds to camera crews). It sometimes appears this is less a study of the word than it is an excuse to engage the free speech debate. Lenny Bruce is also featured prominently here. The use of this one word is only a small piece of Bruce's battle against indecency standards but his featured sketches are still so resonant, it's a shame his story is brushed over so quickly.

The film is ultimately so repetitive, un-enlightening and lacking in substance, even Drew Carey seems bored by the end when he asks, "When are you guys going to make the 'cunt' documentary?" As for the one word and its many uses, Tom Wolfe's deliberation on "fuck patois" in his 2004 novel I Am Charlotte Simmons manages to squeeze more insight out of the 4 letters in a few paragraphs than this does in 93 minutes.

—Scott Warren