Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Following the exploits of a good-hearted, booze-soaked clown who is trying to make his way in Palookaville, a town populated by denizens of that certain ditch in the entertainment world inhabited by clowns and mimes. He tries to kick the booze but his demons are hard to face. He gets involved in seedy intrigue with the tough, jaded rodeo clowns, picks on the mimes, and tries to avoid the indignity of doing balloon animals, all while keeping the bottle at bay lest he wake up puking into his frightwig. Oh yes, there's a love interest as well. Tasteless? Absolutely. Funny? If you know and love an alcoholic (or a clown), and you can still laugh about it, this movie will send you rolling off the couch and onto the floor in stitches.Bobcat is always happy to degrade himself on screen, and he does it brilliantly here. Shakes is a total mess. A disgusting mess. A shameful mess. Bobcat sells the drunkenness and depravity, whether he's being peed on (Nevermind. You'll see.) or stumbling around in a drunken stupor. Yet he still manages to remain likable and not lose his status as the film's protagonist. My favorite part has to do with the intense hatred the clowns harbor for mimes,(I mean, really, who needs 'em!). The fight scene in the park, with the shout "Learn to Talk", is priceless. The obvious discomfort when Shakes must pose as a mime to avoid arrest is also a blast! I had no idea Bobcat Goldthwait was this creative...Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Our hero, Shakes, wakes after a LOST WEEKEND to a golden shower- and things just don't get a whole lot better as the day wears on. With the spectre of sobriety looming over him, Shakes takes refuge among the Emmet Kelly crowd at the local watering hole. The somber but not sober tone of these scenes will leave one with delirious tremens, to be sure. (Shakes isn't one of those athletic lugs who sports "six-pack abs"; no, he goes them all one better and lugs around a keg...) The always slowly creeping camera milks each and every bar scene for all it's worth. Goldthwait is a more than capable writer and director and it's surprising that SHAKES didn't catch the public's fancy the way it should've. When the bloodthirsty Binky (a ne'er-do-well who makes Krusty the Clown look like an okay guy) frames our hero, Shakes turns to his cross-dressing clown buddy and his sidekick (the latter played by Adam Sandler) to help him set things right. Will our heroes pull it off, or will things get more twisted than a balloon at a kid's birthday party...? Check out SHAKES THE CLOWN and see.

This movie has an All Star cast, (or at least a lot of them)Adam Sandler, Robin Williams, Florence Henderson, & LaWanda Page (aunt Ester from Sanford and Son). A stark look at alcoholism through the loopy eyes of rouge clowns. They drink and carouse, drive strange clown cars, and close down "The Twisted Balloon" bar every night. No one as well as Shakes (Bobcat Goldthwait). He wakes up every morning puking but he doesn't have a problem because and can quit when he wants. He just doesn't because he has a lot of fun drinking. He gets fired drinking at a kids party and going nuts (a very funny scene). There are so many zany one liners in this movie. Like when the bar fly lady Aunt ester says "As soon as that camera is off, he gonna f*** that little dog." after Peppy the Clown announces his (forced) retirement from the clown kids TV show. He's all crying and announcing his replacement "Binky" the biggest piece of crap in clown land. Shake thought he was going to get the TV show, guess not. At the bar one of Binkies cronies tells Shakes "Oh, yeah? Well, the only show YOU could ever star in would be a show called the... Not... Funny... DIARRHEA CLUB!" Later Binky frames Shakes for killing Owen Cheese, Shakes boss and father figure (after Shakes dad died in that elephant mishap) Owen finds Binky and a couple of dope dealing rodeo clowns snorting coke and Binky gives a funny line-"You didn't see nothing old man. We're just five happy party clowns, sitting down to a plate of beef. White- powdery- beef." The rest of the show is about Shakes figuring out he did not kill his boss (he was so drunk he didn't know) then finally finding redemption at a 12 step program. This show is hard to watch for people who can't understand addiction, especially when its twisted into a whimsical very dark comedy. Very unique, nothing else even close to like it!

You can't beat this film - a true masterpiece by the usually irritating Bobcat Goldthwait. He shines in the role of his life in this movie. Great cameos and great one liners abound in Shakes The Clown. I highly recommend this movie.