Shock comedy has its own special, demonic way of goosing the audience. You're shown something incredibly depraved, debauched, horrible, or scary. A taboo has been smashed. You're jolted, grossed out, even offended. And yet you laugh. Why? You laugh, of course, at the sheer immorality of what you're watching — in a strange way, at the very fact that you're watching it. The forbidden has been laid bare, and — presto! — it has become...entertainment.
A lot of people probably won't be laughing at one of the wilder releases of the holiday season, the porny, rambunctious Jerry Springer trash opera, Ringmaster. (How many days was that until Christmas, again?) Even those who feasted upon the naughty bonbons of There's Something About Mary may find themselves running up the aisles this time — or, more likely, skipping the multiplex altogether. It's doubtful, though, that many will succeed in hiding from the spirit of unhinged, banzai outrageousness that movies like this have begun to shove into mainstream view. Brace yourself, everyone, for the new pop culture — for America Extreme.
Angel, a mean, pigtailed young nympho (played by Jaime Pressly, who's like a minx in heat), sleeps with her grizzled stepfather (Michael Dudikoff) and gets into catfights with her fame-whore mom (Molly Hagan), who drags them all onto the Jerry Farrelly show (a thinly veiled version of the real thing). At the studio, the three join in hormonal communion with another crew of Jerry's guests — hot stud Demond (the excellent Michael Jai White) and his bevy of battling girlfriends.
Lust, fame, rage, very big breasts — all are on full, lip-smacking display in Ringmaster, which is smart enough to put Jerry Springer's charlatan tactics up front and to tweak the class prejudices of his critics (a valid tweak), even as it basks in the purest exploitation. It's all presided over by the ironic king of the new shock culture — schlumpfy old Jerry himself, who, in the film's wryest joke, comes off as quiet, abashed, almost mournful, as if the sleazing of America were his brave and lonely crusade. You can almost hear him saying, It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. B
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