Dirty Sanchez: The Movie

The verdict: It's puerile, disgusting, moronic and stupid. On the downside, it's a little short.

The craziness: Full-frontal male nudity, ladyboys, a beer enema, liposuction, fish-hooks, samurai swords and paintball guns.

The rating: 7/10

Mainstream Hollywood comedies have become more skilled in 'grossing-out' audiences of late. Even only since the 90's, Cameron Diaz has used Ben Stiller's little swimmers as hair gel, Jason Biggs has dipped his wick into an apple tart, and Borat has had a large Kazakhstani man's bits in his face, with audiences loving it all. These are just three recent cases, but the three movies I've just mentioned have been all phenomenally successful examples of audiences going to the cinema en masse with the promise of seeing something really disgusting..

Jackass tapped into this little area of the zeitgeist, and created a show so low-brow, it turned out to be one of MTV's most successful franchises. Essentially, their spin on candid camera was to engage in slapstick pranks that would involve the protagonists getting hurt, embarrassing themselves in public, or more likely vomiting a lot. The first time I clearly remember being 'grossed out' by jackass was the sketch where three people each tried to drink five gallons of milk in one sitting. One had plain milk, one had vanilla and the other chocolate. Things proceed along at a pedestrian enough pace while they start drinking the milk, until the vomiting starts... and keeps going for a full two minutes, with the low-budget, d.i.y. style only making the viewing experience more visceral.

Dirty Sanchez is of the same ilk as Jackass, and came along at the peak of that show's popularity, so it would be easy to think the two shows were identical, but there are differences. The lads are Welsh for a start, but their brand of stunt is more based on pain and humiliation than Jackass' inventions or slapstick set-pieces... I can imagine that this doesn't make Dirty Sanchez sound like a barrel of laughs, but permit me to digress here for a moment. (Make it quick! - Ed)

Everybody knows of a stag night story where the groom-to-be - after inviting his best friends in the world to celebrate - ended up on the receiving end of a particularly evil prank. The fact is, that when men get together to have fun, they generally do it at someone else's expense. If you fall asleep early on a stag night, you may as well say to the others present: "hey lads, please shave off one of my eyebrows." There's some part of a bloke's DNA that just enjoys that sort of thing. But when we tell our girlfriends, we were only really watching someone else do it, and of course, we thought it was terrible, juvenile behaviour.

Dirty Sanchez: The Movie is a sequence of scenes that attempt to tap into that DNA. The movie is a shock-fest and you constantly wonder where it will all end, but to their credit, the four lads - idiots though they are - appear all too aware of their own shortcomings. Even from the very first scene, they display an awareness that they may have to set limits for themselves, or they'll possibly end up dead. This is the extent to which they suffer for their, ahem, art.

The premise - for what it's worth - is that the lads must travel the world and experience the seven deadly sins, which gives them an awful lot of leeway. Oddly, pride turns out to be the most difficult to watch, although they're all pretty disgusting. There is an added edge to prceedings however, and its the relationship between Dainton and Pritchard, which is so typical of two mates who completely know how to wind each other up. The pranks they play on each other are particularly vindictive, and all the funnier for it, with the world record attempt for the highest number of paintball shots taken by one person a very funny sequence indeed.

I would heartily recommend this movie to fans of Borat, Southpark, or Jackass, because it taps into the same responses as those movies. You'll be watching between your fingers at times, you'll be shocked regularly because it does occasionally go too far, but the audience is well prepared for those moments in advance.

Let's be honest, if you've heard of 'Dirty Sanchez', you probably already know whether you'll watch this movie. All I can say is, I watched it after a bellyfull of beers and I laughed my ass off. I didn't learn much from the experience, except possibly to be very careful if I ever find myself drinking with a Welshman. (Most people would know that already though - Ed)