Private Parts

1997 "Never before has a man done so much with so little."
6.9| 1h49m| R| en| More Info
Released: 07 March 1997 Released
Producted By: Paramount Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

The life and career of shock-jock superstar Howard Stern is recounted from his humble beginnings to his view from the top. Possessing a desire to be an on-air personality since childhood, Stern meanders through the radio world, always with his supportive wife, Alison, by his side. Landing a gig in Washington, D.C., Stern meets Robin Quivers, who will become his long-time partner in crime. When the two move to New York, they face the wrath of NBC executives.

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Reviews

ChikPapa Very disappointed :(
Flyerplesys Perfectly adorable
Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.
Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
morrison-dylan-fan In the early 2000's I would hear from a family friend about how good the Howard Stern book Private Parts was,and I was disappointed to find out that none of his infamous radio show could be heard or seen in the UK. Since finding recordings (and becoming a fan of) of Stern's show online,I took part in an ICM poll for the best movies of 1997,and was surprised to learn from fellow IMDber Red-Barracuda of a Stren bio- pic from the year,which led to me tuning into this special episode.The plot:After visiting the radio station his dad worked at,Howard Stern begins to dream of hosting his own radio show. Meeting his future wife Alison whilst working on college radio,Stern moves on to local radio. Closely following all the rules, Stern's shows hardly get any listeners. Trying to think of how to turn his luck around,Stern decides to push the boundaries of taste of radio, by being himself.View on the film:Going between hosting his radio show in the morning and shooting this movie the rest of the day, Howard Stern actually gives a very good performance as himself! Re-enacting some of his most taboo- breaking moments, Stern captures the ruckus energy of each broadcast pushing the lines of decency in mainstream radio. Whilst it is all about him, Stern surprisingly does not shy away from really bringing out the neurotic side of the "character", with Stern's inability to handle extremely emotional moments, leading to snappy exchanges between Stern (who was originally going to be played by Jeff Goldblum) and his wife Alison, (played by the charming Mary McCormack.) with Paul Giamatti also biting everyone's arm off as irritated radio manager Kenny (talk about this being a challenging role for Giamatti!)Bringing Stern's show from the airwaves to the screen, director Betty Thomas & cinematographer Walt Lloyd give each broadcast a flight of fantasy atmosphere,where each sex act is heightened to the most fantastical level. Adapting Stern's book and radio show, the screenplay by Lee Blum and Michael Kalesniko criss-cross raunchy sex comedy set-pieces with a playfully quirky wit,that is hilariously undressed in Stern never finding a station where he fits in,and the private parts get exposed.
headly66 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.
Isaac5855 PRIVATE PARTS is the hysterically funny and raunchy film version of the autobiography of the self-proclaimed "King of All Media"- Howard Stern which is a comedic chronicle of his rise from college communications student to the #1 radio disc jockey in New York, who has shocked audiences and kept the FCC on their toes for years with his shocking and outrageous on the air antics that have offended audiences, sponsors, and even his own family with equal opportunity. Breezily directed by Betty Thomas (THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE), Stern offers a comic tour-De-force here, playing himself and recreating some of his most outrageous radio stunts, aided by radio cohorts Robin Quivers and Fred Norris, also playing themselves. Stern is backed up by a solid cast including Mary McCormick (lovely as Stern's wife Allison), Michael Murphy, Allison Janney, Jonathan Hadary, Paul Hecht, and towering above them all, Paul Giamatti, who officially became a movie star with his roll-on-the floor funny turn as Kenny "Pig Vomit" Rushton, Howard's program director at WNBC, who challenges Stern at every turn but never gets the best of him. The film is hysterical from start to finish and features cameo appearances from John Stamos, Mia Farrow, Carol Alt, Ozzy Ozbourne, Dee Snider, AC/DC, and another of Stern's radio buddies, Stuttering John. A laugh-out loud comedy that entertains right through the closing credits. Not for the kids. Beware of edited prints.
John McGhie I SO enjoyed this movie.I watched this movie without realizing until close to the end that Howard Stern was playing himself.I was a radio announcer myself, during the period when Stern got going. This movie has the 'feel' of reality to it. I recognized so many of the people I worked with in this movie. Every radio station has some of them. The studios of the period were just like this.Of course, this movie was severely compressed in time and space. Radio is like warfare: lengthy periods of utter boredom punctuated by periods of pure panic. We don't need to see the slow bits. Each hour of on-air radio presentation requires something like three hours of preparation: we don't see the hard work that goes into such a show.We do see a very funny and entertaining movie. Don't forget, I was in the industry at the time this all happened: and this one feels 'real' to me.Many autobiographical pieces by "stars" turn into awful sycophantic schmaltz-fests. This one didn't. It could have been awful. Most of this kind are. This one... is excellent.And if you've never worked in broadcasting -- it's still very funny!