Shakes the Clown

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Shakes the Clown

R

Released Mar 13, 1992

1h 23m

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

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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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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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Basically a redneck drive-in movie in style and delivery.

May 22, 2008

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Marc Savlov

Austin Chronicle

A wonderfully weird two hours.

Rated: 3/5

Jan 1, 2000

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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

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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

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Bobcat Goldthwait's first (and worst) cinematic outing...

Rated: 1/4

Nov 18, 2016

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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josh m

I don't know why but I liked this movie. Overall it wasn't bad and there are moments that are really funny and there are people like Robin Williams and Adam Sandler in it which was strange to see. For being just a goofy movie it was pretty good and worth a watch at least once.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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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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