The movie poster when I saw "Shakes" in the theatre touted it as the "Citizen Kane of Alcoholic Clown Movies," clearly a better analogy than the "Gone with the Wind" one touted here. This is one strange fantasy where clowns hang out in their own bars watching clown shows on TV while tossing back shots. The bars are segregated by clown type, with bars for rodeo clowns and bars for party clowns with no mixing tolerated. Robin Williams' bit part as a mime instructor is some of his best work every, enhanced (as all Robins work should be) by it's brevity. Great work, Bobcat! (The kids in the sprinkler scene is great, a lovingly filmed, uncharacteristicly joyful moment in this very, very dark comedy.) Rumor has it that clown groups picketed theatres when this movie was released, claiming that it was defamatory to clowns.
Review of Shakes the Clown
