Vulgar is a movie about a clown and karma. It's a View Askew film that was written and directed by Bryan Johnson (Steve Dave in most of Kevin Smith's movies). Brian O'Halloran (Dante in Clerks) plays Will Carlson. He's a professional party clown who goes by the name of Flappy. He's pretty down on his luck. Clients frequently cancel on him. He has lots of bills to pay. His mother is in an old folks home, and she is, well, a complete bitch. One day, while perusing through the classified ads, Will decides to moonlight as another kind of clown. Will's friend, Syd (played by Bryan Johnson) acts as the voice of reason. Will tells Syd his idea. He wants to dress as a clown in drag and do bachelor parties. He would show up an hour before the real stripper, and he would call himself Vulgar the Clown. Syd tells him it's a bad idea, but Will does it anyway.
So, Will gets a job. He shows up at the appointed place (in room #37), and the party consists of a guy and his two grown up sons. They proceed to savagely beat and rape him (as opposed to humanely beating and raping him). They videotape everything.
Will goes home. He doesn't remember much. He remembers being beaten and raped, and that's all. He tells Syd everything, but he's too ashamed to go to the hospital or the authorities. He wants to put the whole thing behind him and never think about it again. Will goes on with his life.
A year passes, and Flappy is back in business. He is scheduled to appear at a birthday party at the home of a little girl whose mother had to cancel the year before (after being beaten by her then-husband). The husband is back, and he is alone in the house with a gun to his daughter's head. While the cops try to negotiate with the dad, Flappy, in full costume and makeup, sneaks in the house through the back, jumps the dad, and tackles him in the front yard where the police arrest him (the dad, not Flappy).
Flappy becomes a local hero. He makes the morning talk show rounds across the nation, and a TV producer (played by Kevin Smith) gives him his own show. This is the same producer who discovered that annoying purple dinosaur. Flappy has a show now, he is raking in the dough, he has a house, a car, and all the nice things he never had before.
One day, while watching Flappy's show, the guy who raped him the year before recognizes him. He somehow gets Will's phone number, and he gives him a call. He tells Will about the incriminating videotape. He says the tape shows Will as Vulgar going along with them. He says Will could never prove it was rape. He offers to give Will the tape for $50,000. They arrange a drop-off/pick-up, and Will heads over (after Syd tells him not to). He drops the money off where he's supposed to, but there's no hint of a tape. Will just got screwed again.
The rapist and his sons confront Will in a public restroom. They tell him they want an encore of their first meeting. They still have the tape. Will doesn't have much of a choice. He tells Syd about the meeting, and that he wants to kill them. Syd, while apprehensive, supports Will in his decision. They acquire some stolen guns from an illegal weapons dealer (played by Jason Mewes), and they head out. Syd hides while Vulgar goes in. The three guys are taping again, and the dad asks hime to strip. Vulgar takes out his gun and starts pulling the trigger like mad. Nothing happens. It's never explained why it didn't work. I assumed the safety was on. Anyway, the dad is pretty upset about it. Meanwhile, one of the sons (Ethan Supplee) is lookign at the gun, trying to make it work, and he shoots himself in the head. The dad blames Vulgar for killing his son and starts to beat him. Syd, meanwhile, is outside, dealing with a bum who's trying to get his gun. Syd gets away, and the bum shoots at him, hitting the other son (who shoots the bum at the same time). Both die. Vulgar, Syd, and the dad bolt. Vulgar chases the dad down. They get tired and stop running. The dad taunts Vulgar, knowing he would never kill anyone. Then he suffers a heart attack and dies. Will and Syd return to their daily lives.
Unlike everyone I know who's seen it, I dug this movie. I found Brian O'Halloran's acting to be superb. He did a very good job. The story was very original. It was much like a dark comedy, only without the comedy. I thought the directing was quite good, and the dialogue was very natural. The movie did have some flaws, though. First and foremost, it's not a pleasant or enjoyable film. It came across as more of an independant film project than a feature film. That aside, I was left with a few questions. How did the rapist get Will's number? What killed him in the end? (Yes, it was a heart attack, but I only know that because I watched the original ending in the deleted scenes.) I got the impression that the point of the film was not to entertain but to express. It was a film to be made, not one to be watched.