F**K | DVD Review

Really, why hasn’t a film like F*ck been made before now? Released on DVD just in time for Valentine’s Day and billed as a documentary about the history and usage of everybody’s favorite curse word and how it has infiltrated our daily lives, F*ck is equal parts entertaining, thought-provoking, and laugh-out-loud hilarious.

First off, let’s get one thing straight: the word ‘documentary’ as it pertains to film and television means to present the facts concerning a certain person, event, or subject in an informative and completely objective manner. Using this strict definition, one can argue that there’s no such thing as a documentary film anymore. Michael Moore has seen to that.
Produced and directed by Steve Anderson (The Big Empty) and released by the quickly rising independent studio THINKFilm (The Aristocrats, Shortbus), F*ck is definitely of this new breed of so-called documentaries, where filmmakers tackle a subject and invariably end up releasing a final product that gently (or, as is usually the case with Moore’s films, not-so-gently) guides the viewer to a certain conclusion about the subject matter, instead of simply presenting the facts and letting the moviegoer make his or her own mind up. This can be dangerous ground to tread, but when the subject being analyzed is society’s use of a certain four letter word through the ages, you can sit back and laugh as the various interviewees relate their personal anecdotes. You’ll be laughing with most of them, but a few of the more conservative talking heads elicited some grand guffaws at their own expense.

When asked what his intentions were in making F*ck, Anderson said that he’d wanted to make an entertaining and thoughtful film about the word. “In movies, ‘F*ck’ has always been a supporting player. We’re giving ‘F*ck’ the starring role here.” And he most certainly does give it the starring role; the word and its many variations are uttered 857 times over the feature’s 90-minute running time (8.8 f-bombs per minute, which is still not quite on a level with a typical conversation among my group of friends. But I digress). Anderson divides the film into various topics concerning the word and includes many brief interview segments with a broad range of linguists, celebrities, and politicos. From porn stars Ron Jeremy and Tera Patrick to conservative radio hosts Alan Keyes and Dennis Prager and just about anyone in between, the roster of guests runs the gamut but it does lean more toward liberal-minded people who don’t see much wrong with using ‘f*ck’ in everyday life. In fact, thanks to some creative editing, many of the more conservative guests are poked fun at throughout the film.
The origin and history of the f-word are given relatively short shrift, seeing that nobody really knows when it started being used and what its origin is (and it does not come from any acronym, as many people believe). There’s a lengthy section regarding the U.S.’s First Amendment and how many people put up with the rampant use of the f-word because censoring a word can have a cascading effect on that most basic of human rights, the right of free speech – “without the right to say f*ck, how can we say f*ck the government?” Speaking of government, one fine scene in the movie discusses the use of the f-word by many American presidents and vice-presidents, past and present. We also hear about the use of f*ck in popular culture and there’s even a hilarious Bill Plympton cartoon that teaches the uninitiated the many uses of the word (verb, transitive verb, intransitive verb, intensifier, noun, adjective, etc.)

While the first sight on camera of some of the guests might make you do a double take, each and every one of them has insightful, humorous, and important things to say about their feelings for f*ck and its use in our society. But I must say that the best moments in the film are the comedic ones, especially comedian Billy Connoly imagining the very first time the word was uttered on Earth and the universality of the expression ‘f*ck off’. Pat Boone is also unintentionally funny when he talks about how instead of using profanity he invented a curse word using his own name: Boone! I think the funniest segments in F*ck are each and every one with rapper/actor Ice-T. He talks about how the Bible was edited and there seems to have been something left out concerning Adam and Eve; he mentions how the f-word is really helpful in certain intimate situations; and he even concludes by saying he’s going to go home and Boone his wife.
My only problem with this film is that the arbiters of manners and etiquette in language are almost made fun of, or you are at least gently nudged to see them in a less-than-flattering light. This is not really fair. They are people, after all, and are entitled to their views, however silly and inane they may be. Now, I want to echo Drew Carey and wonder when Anderson will make a sequel to F*ck, concerning the most vulgar curse word of all: c*nt. I’ll line up for my ticket the second that they announce that one!

The copy of F*ck that I received for review was a screener that contained only the film and a couple of movie trailers, so I can’t say with any certainty or honesty how good the features are. I don’t even know what the features are, for that matter. The list of features above is directly from the studio’s website and may not be what is on the final release of the DVD. For this reason, I’ll give the DVD the same rating I gave the film.

F*ck is a highly entertaining and rioutously funny film that also manages to make you stop and think about the effect that the f-word has had on our culture and whether we can somehow stop the negativity it has engendered in our society. Ah, who am I kidding? It’s a hilarious film, and that’s enough. After all, folks, it’s just a word. Get over it.

Movie rating – 4

Disc Rating – 4