Purely Joyful Movie!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

there are many who will say "nay, nay" to sitting through a bio on shock jock (the original!) Stern...if said "demo" can contain their revulsion to bathroom humour on steroids, they will enjoy this movie. they will find a fair amount of disgusting "private part" area humour and this actually gives the movie some credibility! it's a little twisted...but sit back and enjoy an excellent job of acting by.....believe it or not , Howard and by actor Paul Giamiti (now, of course, being lauded for an amazing job as Brian Wilson's Doctor/Caregiver in "Love and Mercy".all Stern's on main air crew are featured..and not just in cameos..they have a lot of scenes! yes, finally a show biz biopic we can sit thru! I want to add that the timeline is handled beautifully, and the cinematography is wonderful. the run down, radio station shacks he suffered in...to the big time NY fully-fitted studios.

A man so hated & loathed for being outspoken, raunchy, and possessing a juvenile sense of humor (whose ultimate goal was simply this: to illicit great laughs to be had by all & good ratings to keep him on-the-air) finds plenty of opposition as he departs from his formal university education & enters into the difficult journey of achieving a successful broadcast entertainment career!Howard Stern is by far one of the most under-appreciated, overlooked, unjustly blacklisted, guilty-until-proved-innocent humans on Earth! I have listened & watched the Stern Show since the early 90's when the show was finally coming into its own, and reaching global audiences, as opposed to the 80's, when Stern nation was just barely reaching East & West Coast listeners. I realize Howard Stern's reputation & outlook on life while being a "shock jock" is too much to handle for lots of uptight victims of a sheltered upbringing; the morality hypocrites in this country - where freedom of expression/speech is often tested, ridiculed, and ultimately determined to be just a farce. This country will never outgrow CENSORSHIP. But for many of us in this intelligent, open-minded, love- laugh-live army of dedicated fans... we wouldn't want it any other way!In Private Parts, Howard Stern gives us insight into the career-long battle with the FCC, and shows us his human side where he shares his experiences of becoming a father, a husband, and a great & loyal friend to all who are deserving. Thanks to his many lifelong critics (who are just embittered fans anyway!), there may be a lot to dislike about someone who is so often misunderstood and dismissed as "an overgrown man child"... whatever opinion you may have about Howard Stern and his empire, you simply cannot deny his genius & overall success!

Howard Stern is an acquired taste for the diverse and eclectic. Never listening to his radio show, but an avid listener of scattered clips on the internet, I felt Private Parts could give me the proper introduction the man I was looking for. After all, the man has been a radio icon for many years and an FCC bandit for just as long.Like him or not, Stern has changed the face of radio. He has revolutionized the definition of "talk radio." I can't stress enough that I love talk radio. I find it to be not only relaxed but an insightful way to collect information on certain, gray topics. I used to religiously listen to DreX in the Morning, a Chicago-based radio show on WKSC-FM. Once he was gone at the end of 2010 so was I. I couldn't imagine not having him on my radio every morning before I ship myself off for my daily grind. Then in March I quickly turned over to Eddie and Jobo on WJMK-FM. To this day that's my cup of coffee in the morning.Stern has been more controversial than all of three of those men combined. He threatens the very patience of the FCC, and has pretty much thrown caution and restrictions to the wind as he sits in front of the mic and speaks his mind on whatever he wants. Through various warnings and threats made from his station and the FCC, all of which have been dismissed by him, it's pretty clear that as long as there are faithful listeners, Stern isn't concerned with who he offends or what he is faced with.The movie chronicles his life starting at a very young age where we see Stern's father makes an exercise out of verbally abusing his son. This may have contributed to Stern being a very closed book. Not to mention the fact he went to an all black high school, which only made his differences stand out.As years go by, and because of his father's occupation in radio, Stern develops a passion for the airwaves. This is an awkward and unexpected choice from someone who cruised through high school saying almost nothing. The thought of him pioneering a genre of talk radio which focused more on humor than news was not even present at the time because of his very shy nature. After hits and misses at different radio shows, Stern is finally hired by WNBC in New York City where he would wind up in numerous arguments with his station manager nicknamed Pig Vomit (played very well by Paul Giamatti).Stern's run at WNBC in the eighties was where he gained his most popularity and notoriety. After tirelessly working throughout college on their own brand-name radio and at a number of dead end jobs, he finally got the break he deserved. If you can look past his crude, vulgar, shameless persona there lies a sweet, gentle, hilarious side to him. That may have been added since Hollywood is notorious for factoring in little clichés into biopics, but since Stern rejected many, many scripts before settling on this one I assume this one got it to almost pin-point accuracy.I forgot to mention that Stern married the beautiful Alison (McCormack) in 1978 after dating her prolifically throughout his run at WRNR. Alison was the first woman who ever gave Stern the time of day. But Stern makes it very clear being married to him is not an easy task. Stern is notorious for releasing private affairs with his wife over the air, which is what lead to their divorce about four years after this film was made.Private Parts is a provocative look at talk radio and where it was and now is because of Howard Stern. Sometimes it appears as if it is glossing over some events and instances that might have happened during Stern's long run. Surely he had to be suspended a few times, and maybe some of the fights with his wife lead to his expulsion from the house for a few days. But the movie doesn't dive into that as much as it looks at Stern's mark on the radio. Which is what it should look at it. It rarely simplifies the story, and comes out to be a very honest biopic work of art.Starring: Howard Stern, Robin Quivers, Fred Norris, Mary McCormack, and Paul Giamatti. Directed by: Betty Thomas.

Howard Stern has only ever been a vaguely familiar figure here in the UK. When Private Parts first came out I knew who he was and had seen a short segment about him on TV. My opinion of him was not good. From the small amount of information I had, he seemed like a completely unlikeable malicious idiot with an annoying haircut. So I certainly had some preconceptions about the man before seeing this film. After seeing it, I had to admit that, like most things in life, the truth is much more complex. In actual fact I came away from Private Parts liking and respecting Mr Stern quite a bit. Quite a turn-around.Sometimes with a biopic it's good to have very little knowledge of the subject. The trajectory of the story is then more surprising to you. This was true for me with Private Parts, as I had no real clue about Howard Stern's rise to fame. However, what surprised me the most was Stern's character. He was not afraid to paint himself as pathetic, and the honesty of this approach is the key to why it's such a compelling film. Some people have commented that this movie is self-serving and that Stern portrays himself as some kind of misunderstood innocent. While I can't definitively say if this is true or not, my gut feeling is that he depicts himself in a fairly honest way. Many times he shows himself to be seriously uncool and pathetic. And because his whole shtick is about not holding back and saying what he thinks, you can't help but feel that this ethos must apply to the movie too, and this is most probably what he is like.The film is often very funny, and I can't really often say this for most comedies. It mixes standard biopic drama with some inventive comedy moments that recall the style of Woody Allen; although an admittedly lower-brow Woody Allen with a fair smattering of naked women. But still, it's in that general ball-park. Stern is very good as, well, Stern. I think it's quite a reasonable achievement to be fair as it's actually not always that easy playing yourself. Take a look at a few of the cameo appearances in some of the episodes of Extras for proof of this bizarre truth. Anyway, he is a compelling central character, whose underlying personality seems to be very decent. Paul Giamatti is the other actor who stands out. His portrayal of Pig Vomit is hilarious.This is a great comic biopic. You certainly do not need to be familiar with its lead character to enjoy it, as it's a very well delivered and funny story. The humour never feels forced either, it just flows into the narrative. I am surprised I like Private Parts so much. It really changed my view of Howard Stern. Except I still think he has an annoying haircut.