Private Parts (1997)

As a long term listener of Howard Stern I was satisfied with the adaptation of the book to the big screen. Betty Thomas was smart enough to allow Howard be himself. It works because Stern is not really acting. Having heard the actual tapes of his father berating him as a kid, seeing Richard Portnow as Ben, was dead on accurate and funny as hell. The other highlight is Paul Giamatti as the program director called pig vomit, who is hired to control Stern's free wheeling and often vulgar on air persona. At one point the self proclaimed king of all media is subjected to a lecture on the proper way of announcing wnbc with a prolonged and exaggerated W "NNNNNNNBC;" it is exactly as it happened because I actually heard the broadcast and the constant battles between Howie and the management at the now defunct radio station. Previous to the WNBC job, we see the struggle from college radio to Briarcliff, NY to Hartford, Ct. to Detroit and the last stop before the Big Apple is Washington, D.C. It is a ride filled with odd ball characters, nude women and people behaving badly, all for the ratings, and it works due to Stern's ability to communicate at the level of a regular guy. The film is well made and should be entertaining even for non listeners.

Howard Stern has only ever been a vaguely familiar figure here in the UK. When Private Parts first came out I knew who he was and had seen a short segment about him on TV. My opinion of him was not good. From the small amount of information I had, he seemed like a completely unlikeable malicious idiot with an annoying haircut. So I certainly had some preconceptions about the man before seeing this film. After seeing it, I had to admit that, like most things in life, the truth is much more complex. In actual fact I came away from Private Parts liking and respecting Mr Stern quite a bit. Quite a turn-around.Sometimes with a biopic it's good to have very little knowledge of the subject. The trajectory of the story is then more surprising to you. This was true for me with Private Parts, as I had no real clue about Howard Stern's rise to fame. However, what surprised me the most was Stern's character. He was not afraid to paint himself as pathetic, and the honesty of this approach is the key to why it's such a compelling film. Some people have commented that this movie is self-serving and that Stern portrays himself as some kind of misunderstood innocent. While I can't definitively say if this is true or not, my gut feeling is that he depicts himself in a fairly honest way. Many times he shows himself to be seriously uncool and pathetic. And because his whole shtick is about not holding back and saying what he thinks, you can't help but feel that this ethos must apply to the movie too, and this is most probably what he is like.The film is often very funny, and I can't really often say this for most comedies. It mixes standard biopic drama with some inventive comedy moments that recall the style of Woody Allen; although an admittedly lower-brow Woody Allen with a fair smattering of naked women. But still, it's in that general ball-park. Stern is very good as, well, Stern. I think it's quite a reasonable achievement to be fair as it's actually not always that easy playing yourself. Take a look at a few of the cameo appearances in some of the episodes of Extras for proof of this bizarre truth. Anyway, he is a compelling central character, whose underlying personality seems to be very decent. Paul Giamatti is the other actor who stands out. His portrayal of Pig Vomit is hilarious.This is a great comic biopic. You certainly do not need to be familiar with its lead character to enjoy it, as it's a very well delivered and funny story. The humour never feels forced either, it just flows into the narrative. I am surprised I like Private Parts so much. It really changed my view of Howard Stern. Except I still think he has an annoying haircut.

Howard Stern is a polarizing figure in entertainment, probably the most hated and loved figure of the last half century, depending on whether you are an opponent or a fan of his. As the stats are laid out in this film, Stern's enemies are just as, if not more, likely to be found listening to his show. The program he hosts is like millions of people's cup of coffee in the morning.This room rocker of a movie is the first chapter in the big screen project of his life, showing what a crazy thirty plus years it was. Rabid fans want another instalment showing what has developed since the mid 80's when "Private Parts" ends. He's since been divorced, remarried, seen his daughters become young adults, had his head writer Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling walk away and replaced by stand up comic Artie Lange and, last but not least, left terrestrial broadcasting to become the most popular talent now on satellite radio, where millions pay to hear the show that still offends and amuses with it's political satire, prank calls, more candid than anywhere else celebrity interviews and cast of characters who make up a very broad spectrum of voices in society."Private Parts" is one of the few comedies that's funnier each time I watch it. The showdown Stern has with his nemesis at WnnnnNBC is one of the ten most hilarious scenes in history as far as I'm concerned. Paul Giamatti is so good as Kenny (or "Pig Vomit"), you'll practically throw up with laughter when he's on screen. Not so pleasant moments before Howard found his true voice are recreated, as are classics like "The Match Game" and "Fartman" (with friend of the show John Stamos filling in for Luke Perry at the MTV appearance).Radio has it's share of popular talent, but Stern has really achieved something unique with his approach. His phenomenon doesn't come around once a generation. Just once, period!

The fact that this was directed by a woman turned what might have been a much raunchier film into a blandish comedy but Howard was probably looking to reach a broader audience at the time. It is a good movie, not great, but mostly a disappointment for Stern fans as it is not a real history of the events that took place. Here's some fake movie history: Luke Perry introduced Howard as Fartman on MTV not John Stamos.Why would Dee Snider make a face at Howard behind stage when they were great friends at the time. Oh by the way, Dee was not even there as Twisted Sister had broke up in 1988, the event was in Sept. of 1992. Neither was Flavor Flav, Ozzy, Blues Traveler, MC Hammer, or Tiny Tim, etc, etc. Also no one treated Howard that way back stage, he was very famous at the time, had a #1 book and many of the same powers to help or hurt peoples careers.There is no song called "Mama Look-A Boo Boo" from the time Howard was driving with his father.The dirty puppet show at the old folks home never happened.They leave out the fact that Howard was doing bits for years before he "discovered himself" and don't show any of the many people he worked with on air over the years in college and up to NBC.Howard was not playing punk music like the Ramones at WRNW, in fact he played mostly disco.Howard did not meet Fred in his first minute on the air at WCCC.Howard was never in a bathtub with Fred and an actress.Howard didn't have long hair until the very end of his time with WNBC.Howard did not quit on the air at WWWW when they went country.Robin did not meet Howard on the air, they had both received tapes of each other prior to meeting and then decided to work together.The on the air orgasm did not happen that way, it was with a small radio and sounded completely different. Technically it could not be done as shown in the movie.Robin was not with Howard at the beginning at NBC as she quit in DC taking a straight news job after not being picked up by WNBC and blamed Howard for abandoning her. So the first night tryout for the Stern crew could never have happened with her. It also did not sound that way, they did not say sperm and gargle with it.Their programmers nickname was pig virus, not pig vomit, why they changed this I have no clue.The prevalence of breast implants is ridiculous in this movie, (girl on phone, girl in studio, girls in lesbian dream) this was not very common in the early 80's especially for women not in the porn or movie industry.In the last scene at the concert (the film says July 27th 1985), Howard looked nothing like this in 1985 nor did Robin. Phil Rudd was not in AC/DC at the time, nor did Stern's wife go into labor. His kids were born in 1983, 1986 and 1993. She wasn't even pregnant at the time, their next child wouldn't be born until May 9, 1986.I really have no problem with movies condensing or changing things a little because of time restraints or creativity but please, when you actually make things up that never happened its a little disconcerting. I mean why don't we just make a movie where Jesus is at the Battle of Waterloo, or John Lennon gets shot on a space ship or George Washington meets Hitler. The sad thing is this happens all the time and people believe its true and take it as history, just look at Braveheart where historical characters are in the same time period even though they lived 200 years apart.Its just sad and stupid.