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Shakes the Clown

Play trailer Poster for Shakes the Clown R Released Mar 13, 1992 1h 23m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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43% Tomatometer 21 Reviews 49% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
The all-clown town of Palukaville provides a colorful backdrop for this tale of an alcoholic funnyman framed for murder.
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Shakes the Clown

Shakes the Clown

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Critics Consensus

Shakes the Clown has a handful of memorable moments, but they're scattered in a movie whose best ideas were left undeveloped on their way to the screen.

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Critics Reviews

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Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader Basically a redneck drive-in movie in style and delivery. May 22, 2008 Full Review Marc Savlov Austin Chronicle A wonderfully weird two hours. Rated: 3/5 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times The movie plays like a series of scene outlines -- ideas for how the movie should progress -- that needed more writing and revision before the actors were called in. Rated: 2/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Matthew Rozsa matthewrozsa.com It's a very dialogue centric movie, characteristic of other great comedies from the'90s indie circuit. Rated: 3.5/4 Jun 28, 2020 Full Review David Nusair Reel Film Reviews Bobcat Goldthwait's first (and worst) cinematic outing... Rated: 1/4 Nov 18, 2016 Full Review Tim Brayton Antagony & Ecstasy Clearly achieves what Goldthwait wanted it to, and the unapologetic bluntness of it is itself worthy of praise, however awkward and squeamish. Rated: 7/10 Jun 5, 2016 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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seamus M The best thing Bobcat Goldthwait ever did! Packed with great cameos. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 08/18/24 Full Review Josh W One of the greatest cult films ever, and it's sad the rating it has on this website. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/29/23 Full Review Seventh S Honestly, it's one of my favorite movies from my youth. Bobcat Goldthwaite accurately portrayed alcohol dependency and in true comedic genius style, wove it's tragedy into a comedy. Yes, there are memorable 'moments' of humor, but try and explain or describe the storyline of this movie to someone and you will see how funny it really is. I think too many people get lost in the details to understand the big picture is really outstandingly funny. It's truly a gem... Rated 5 out of 5 stars 04/12/23 Full Review Jeffrey P Starts with some potential, a down on his luck clown ala the ‘Bad Santa' trope, but quickly goes off the rails as an entire collective of drunken abusive clowns are introduced. You can't expect anything going into a movie like this so it's not likely to leave you disappointed, just full of regret. Aside from the tragic and depressing story of an alcoholic clown, what I believe is supposed to be the plot takes almost an hour to set up… in an 86-minute movie. Ironically, it gets worse and becomes less interesting once the plot develops. Still, there are a lot of cameos from comedians that combine to almost keep this afloat, though not all recognizable as everyone is in clown make-up throughout. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/12/23 Full Review espanolo t Vi esta película cuando tenia 13 anos. Mi cita favorita fue "Tengo ese viejo cono de mantequilla de maní" Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review kevin c Bobcat Goldthwaite stars and directs this flick about the clown community. He plays Shakes, who is great at entertaining the kids at birthday parties but the rest of the time is a stinking drunk. Disappointed that he didn't get the lucrative tv clown job replacing a retiring clown he goes on a bender. When he awakens he is accused of murder and must clear his name. This is mostly sad with a few chuckles mostly from a cameo from Robin Williams. Tom Kenney plays his clown nemesis. Adam Sandler plays one of his clown colleagues. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Shakes the Clown

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis The all-clown town of Palukaville provides a colorful backdrop for this tale of an alcoholic funnyman framed for murder.
Director
Bobcat Goldthwait
Producer
Ann Luly, Paul Colichman
Screenwriter
Bobcat Goldthwait
Distributor
IRS Media
Production Co
IRS Media
Rating
R
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 13, 1992, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 16, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA)
$34.5K
Runtime
1h 23m
Sound Mix
Dolby, Surround, Stereo
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