By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.25
Director: Lorene Machado
Country: united_states
Year: 2002
Running time: 95
IMDB: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0300274
Michael says: “This follow-up concert film to her terrific I’M THE ONE THAT I WANT, is more outrageous and funny… but a little less well put together. Obviously, if you like Cho, you’ll enjoy her films, if you don’t… stay away. NOTORIOUS C.H.O. gets a little fancy, including a couple animated bits, and interviews with Cho and her parents, but it’s her stage show that makes the film. While her first film had an undercurrent of seriousness as she addressed her body image problems and the story of her short-lived television show, NOTORIOUS went for the bawdy humor. None of us will think of C.C. Bloom (Bette Midler’s character in BEACHES) the same way again…” 3 1/2 cats
Hilary says: “As a big fan of Margaret Cho’s, I was thoroughly pleased with her latest film, NOTORIOUS C.H.O. As Michael said in his review, if you aren’t a fan, don’t bother. And particularly if you are at all faint of heart. I laughed throughout the entire film, as she gave her often raunchy, but always entertaining performance. Having caught her previous show live, I hadn’t seen the ‘Notorious M.O.M. and D.A.D.’ before, and was amused to finally put faces to her parents, who are frequent ‘characters’ in her comedy.
“I really enjoy the fact that Cho can be so brutally honest about personal matters, makes it clear that she has very strong opinions about life and our world, yet can see and appreciate the real absurdities as well. This material was less serious than I’M THE ONE THAT I WANT, but no less frank and at times, thoughtful. The old adage is certainly true: ‘Life is a comedy to those that think and a tragedy to those that feel.'”
Howard says: “Margaret Cho is raunchy. Not a bad thing necessarily especially since she is so extraordinarily honest about herself and the observations she makes about sex, relationship, family and self-love (yes, both kinds). NOTORIOUS C.H.O. is more of a platform for her call to arms for tolerance and living without fear.
“She touches on the attack on New York and at the time of the taping was probably one of the first jokes made after 9/11. And she campaigns for all people who are minorities whether based on race, sexual orientation, body type, social status, etc. to stop believing in all the ad campaigns and prejudices and start loving themselves to hilarious effect.
“Unfortunately, this doesn’t come close to the bravery of I’M THE ONE THAT I WANT. No where in Notorious does she come close to the depth of soul-searching and honest reflection of herself as she did in I’M THE ONE, which in itself is a hard act to follow.
“NOTORIOUS C.H.O. is more frivolity and less substance, but that’s just fine this time around. With all the chaos in the world that Cho mentions its wonderful to just sit back and have someone this talented keep youstitches for 90 minutes.” 3 cats