Private Parts Reviews

The true story of Howard Stern's "rise" from schoolboy nerd to leading DJ in the USA. This is adapted from his book and is a whirlwind ride through 30 years, with the main focus being on his career at small stations and his big break at NBC. The fact that it is from Stern himself means that the story focuses on his good sides and tends to brush over the more difficult issues relating to his insensitivity towards his wife etc, but that doesn't stop this being a funny enjoyable film.

Stern plays himself with a great sense of self - most of his jokes put himself down rather than being arrogant. This helps endear the audience to him with great effect and makes him more sympathetic. The comedy is very sharp (and rude) throughout and even if we don't get any great insights at least we have a good laugh.

Stern is good in the lead role (admittedly if he can't play himself what can he do!) And his colleagues are also good as themselves. Paul Giamatti is great as the put upon producer at NBC and the rest of the cast is filled out with weird characters. One complaint would be the copious amount of nudity in the film - I realise that it's a true story but it did seem to be put in just to get the audience at times (well....like Stern's show itself I guess).

Overall this plays like a rude Woody Allen film (funny narrative voice-overs) and it has a certain charm to it that towers over the smuttiness to make it feel a much nicer film than it is. Even if you don't know who Stern is (i.e. most people outside of America) this is a very funny enjoyable film.

I remember it very well, when this movie was released, I was still living in France and, back then, nobody really knew what to do with this flick. I mean, for the French people, who the f*ck was Howard Stern?!? I mean, we heard a little bit about his reputation but since we had never listened to his radio shows, it seemed rather pointless to release this movie outside the USA. Anyway, I can't say I'm really familiar with Howard Stern's work but still I wanted to check it out, especially because Paul Giamatti had a small part in this flick. Eventually, it is basically a rather standard but still well made and entertaining biopic. The most interesting touch was the rather unique and bold decision to have Howard Stern to portray himself and I thought that Stern did a pretty good job (he even played himself as a teenager). Honestly, he definitely displayed some potential and I actually think it is a pity that he doesn't show up in other movies. To conclude, it is a rather odd feature if you are not familiar with Stern’s work but I still think it is worth a look, above all if you are a fan of Howard Stern.