Private Parts (1997)

Rating: C+

Dir: Betty Thomas
Star: Howard Stern, Robin Quivers, Fred Norris, Mary McCormack

The life of Howard Stern, America’s #1 shock jock, has been a long, strange one, if this bio-pic is anything to go by. And its reliability is perhaps the big question, as it’s unashamedly skewed towards his point of view. Given this bias, it’s still very funny, even if you don’t really know the man — and given the current dire state of UK radio, it’ll be some time before we get him here. One nice idea is to have Howard and many of his associates playing themselves – if seeing him as a college student (looking worryingly like Weird Al Yankovic) stretches credulity a bit, the movie is honest enough to make a joke of it. At 110 minutes long, it could be accused of some slight self-indulgence, but the man is a censor’s nightmare, no matter what the personal cost, and as such, this film should be required viewing.