Courtney Pauroso: Vanessa 5000 (2024)

I watch a lot of standup specials throughout the year, but they're hard to nut because spoken word comedy is so subjective. This is a distinct performance featuring an A.I. sex robot who offers a tech product demonstration, and it's a subversive experience that fucks with viewer expectations. While expressing a sexy and flexible persona, it ranges from clowning the crowd to becoming wildly unhinged in the last third. She's a unique character and I give Courtney Pauroso all the credit in the world for bringing her to life and giving her soul.

3 goblin modes out of 5

Stamptown (2026)

Zach Zucker's variety and cabaret show has been running for over a decade in international fringe festivals and is captured in this hour-long comedy special for Netflix. It reminds me a bit of The Goes Wrong Show, but with naughty bits added to it. I like it when it leans into absurdity and Eric André-like antics. The chaos and anarchy is the entire point of the format and it plays with audience expectations. I expect the shows are even more kinetic when witnessed in the crowd. I came away thinking it was a bit overrated, but enjoyed it all the same.

3 safety vests ("Let's do it again!!") out of 5

Spermageddon (2024)

How does this movie exist? It's an adult CG animated film aimed towards teens that feels like a companion piece to Sausage Party and plays out like Fantastic Voyage through the reproductive system. It's basically Inside Out for perverts.

Simen the semen is one of a billion sperm cells who worries about making it to the motherland or dying one of a thousand horrible deaths. But the nutsack is getting too crowded and someone's got to go. This is a concept I'm surprised took this long to make, yet I applaud the balls that it takes to make something so crass into cute animated musical form. Contains about a thousand cum puns, yet I couldn't get enough. I am not a prudish person in the least, but this one even had me clutching at my pearls by the disgusting places it goes. I'm glad to be taken out of my comfort zone. I doubt I'll ever see another film like it.

3 contraceptives out of 5

Fixed (2025)

After humping Nana's legs one too many times, an unruly mutt threatened with being neutered decides to run away from home in order to have one last great adventure while fully intact. I enjoy the traditional hand-drawn animation and the voice talent is strong, but that's about it. A lot of the humor is hit and miss and gets repetitive quickly, never feeling quite as transgressive as it should.

1½ Kool-Aid flavored toilet bowls out of 5

Strays (2023)

Raunchy R-rated comedies also extend to dogs, it seems. Reggie is a Border Terrier who has recently been abandoned by his abusive owner and left to fend to himself in the streets, where he meets a streetwise Boston Terrier named Bug who introduces him to a gaggle of other strays that convince him to swear revenge on his former owner. This movie is dirty and fun and doesn't aspire to be anything more than what's on the box, so it was right up my alley. If you're looking for dick and shit jokes en masse, you need stray no further.

3 squirrel threesomes out of 5

Bottoms (2023)

A satirical "comedy" about two queer high school girls who start a feminist self-defense club in order to attract other girls. A lousy film that tries so hard to be edgy and cool like a female Fight Club, but winds up being obnoxious and largely forgettable. Obviously this movie wasn't intended for me, but it doesn't have to try so hard to be repugnant and appallingly bad for "shock" value. It's a shame because I've loved all the other raucous comedies that came out in the summer of 2023, but this one just landed with a thud for me.

1 bomb out of 5

Joy Ride (2023)

2023 enjoyed a brief return to raunchy comedies in movie theaters. This one involves two childhood best friends who travel to China on a business trip and wind up on a mission to uncover the identity of one of their birth parents. It's marketed as the Asian Hangover, which isn't far from the tone it sets, but also manages to be quite touching and emotionally satisfying, cheap jokes and all.

3 pussy tats out of 5

No Hard Feelings (2023)

A woman struggling to make ends meet takes a job from wealthy parents to "date" their introvert son in order to get him out of his shell and prepared for college. God, what a fucking fantasy this is for someone like me. Although it gets most of its mileage at the expense of ageist jokes, I don't see anything wrong with age discrepancy in a consensual relationship. It's a return to R-rated raunch and I appreciate seeing full frontal nudity in a comedy movie again. Good on JLaw for embracing her natural assets and having fun with it.

3 Chinese dick traps out of 5

Somebody Up There Likes Me (2013)

A deeply ironical title for a deeply ironical film. I don't even know how to properly surmise this deadpan comedy that jumps around 35 years in the lives of its main characters (while never seeming to age). There's a part of me that admires this film and a part of me that abhors it, but like other indies by Bob Byington, they tend to get under your skin and stay there, for better or worse. 

3½ suitcases out of 5

Harmony and Me (2009)

A young songwriter named Harmony struggles to get over the one who got away. There is a real meandering quality and true indie nature to this film, in which nothing really seems to happen, yet I remained riveted throughout. It's imperfect in all of its mumblecore charms, but may feel like a slog to others.

3 "get well soon" cards out of 5

Registered Sex Offender (2008)

AKA: RSO

Framed as a mockumentary, a young man recently released on parole for an undisclosed sex crime tries to reintegrate with society in light of how he is now perceived, attempting to find a job and patch things up with his girlfriend (the beautiful Kristen Tucker, pictured above). It doesn't quite live up to its potential, but it offers nuance to a usually maligned topic of conversation.

3 bad days out of 5

I Am a Sex Addict (2005)

Caveh Zahedi is a documentarian known for doing some gonzo self-reflexive works that defy conventional boundaries and taste. In this autobiographical meta-comedy, he turns the camera on himself and his lifelong sex addiction, and it's a warts-and-all portrayal of desperation and humiliation. This theme tends to be fascinating when it's completely sincere, as uncomfortable as the subject matter can be at times. It takes balls to put yourself out there like this.

3½ escorts out of 5

Deep Throat (1972)

Trashy filmmaking at its finest. Caused quite a stir back when it was released and launched the "porno chic" movement. Odd to think there was once a time when people freely admitted to attending dirty, dingy, sticky adult theaters and watching a stag film in a room full of consenting adults. Seems a lot more healthy and sex-positive than anything that happens nowadays. Sexuality has become something shameful and to be hidden in the dark, rather than talked about, celebrated and enjoyed. Always felt like a backwards culture to me.

The plot is familiar by now: a woman (Linda Lovelace) who's never achieved orgasm discovers that her clitoris is located in the back of her throat, and there's only one way to stimulate it... Nothing is left to the imagination. 

For an even deeper dive, check out the 2005 documentary, Inside Deep Throat, for further information about this '70s pop culture phenomenon.

2 bells rung out of 5

Note: Don't even bother with the sequel, which was softcore rubbish.

The Auteur (2008)

Arturo Domingo is a serious filmmaker whose titles range from My Left Nut to Gang Bangs of New York. He's known as the "Stanley Kubrick of Porn" and his obsession with his work only rivals his desire to capture back the one who got away. Honestly, half the fun of this mockumentary are all the punny titles that make up his filmography, while he attempts to unleash his magnum opus upon the world. The more I think back on this movie, the more it makes me giggle.

3 Full Metal Jackoffs out of 5

Film Geek (2005)

A nerdy, annoying video store clerk whose whole life revolves around movies struggles to connect with actual real life humans around him. A totally not-at-all familiar feeling. This is a very bare-bones indie film but it makes me roar with laughter at how relatable it is, and also makes me feel really bad about myself at the same time. It's safe to say this won't be for all tastes, but I loved it because of how earnest and real it feels. Just keep fapping through the pain.

4 late fees out of 5