Never having listened to his radio program and maybe seeing his TV show
once or twice, I bought and read "Private Parts" a few years ago. This
began my
fascination for this controversial character. He basically says everything
we're thinking, but afraid to say. It's no holds barred, nothing-is-sacred
radio that is damn
funny in my book, though I have to admit that there are times I have
to turn it off. It's usually when he's visciously belittling and berating
someone he doesn't like.
Despite what you might think, Howard is actually a very good person
underneath his shock-jock radio personality. He's faithful to his friends,
but most importantly,
he's faithful to his wife and family. This makes him a good man in
my book, and it comes out in both his books and his movie, if you allow
yourself to believe that it's
possible.
A lot of people played themselves in this movie. This includes Howard's
sidekick Robin Quivers, head writer Jackie Martling, Engineer, Writer,
and Voice Talent
Fred Norris, Howard's producer Gary "Ba Ba Booey" Dell'abate, and,
of course, Howard Stern, who played himself from his college days where
a blind girl even
rejected a date with him all the way up to his super stardom self where
he could, if he weren't being faithful to his wife, sleep with any number
of gorgeous chicks that
frequent his show. The acting was good. The story was compelling. And
there's something in it for everyone, including the non-Howard Stern fans.
While I was impressed with the movie, the books, and his radio show,
the website put together by Paramount wasn't as spectacular. It certainly
isn't for those who
are easily offended, though they did register with the various "parental
control" programs. If you aren't willing to download and install Shockwave
or the iChat client,
this site isn't for you, either. In general, you can probably visit
this site once. After you play with the toys, there's nothing to bring
you back to the site..
They obviously put a lot of effort into the site. They made use of iChat,
an irc-like chat plugin for Netscape Navigator, and they made some interesting
games in
Shockwave. The games are pretty fun and well done. Cleaning Gary's
Teeth is tough. So is punching out Howard Stern. Matching boobies in either
the slot machines
or the memory games are, well, just gratuitous nudity. And I was too
slow to play Wack-A-Howard. But I couldn't get the chat to work very well.
Oh well, I spend
way too much time on IRC as it is.
There's also some good information on the site about everyone who acted
in the film, and some film stills. I was disappointed that the only "clip"
from the movie was
the trailer, which was pretty entertaining. I would have loved to seen
them put up the scene where Howard gets on the air while he's cornering
"Pig Vomit" in his
office, asking him why he cut his program off the air.
Anyway, go see the movie a couple of times. But only visit the website
once.