F*CK (2006) **1/2 (Appearing: Steven Bochco, Pat Boone, Benjamin Bradlee, Drew Carey, George Carlin, Billy Connolly, Chuck D., Sam Donaldson, Janeane Garofalo, Ice-T, Timothy Jay, Ron Jeremy, Alan Keyes, Sandra Tsing Loh, Bill Maher, David Milch, Alanis Morissette, Tera Patrick, Evan Seinfeld, Kevin Smith, Hunter S. Thompson, Miss Manners) (Dir: Steve Anderson)<br /><br />THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the "F-dash-dash-dash" word! <br /><br />The "F-word" is still perhaps the biggest shock-value in the vernacular and its audacious vulgarity is on full display in this cheeky and somewhat informative talking-heads documentary incorporating pop culture, politics, religion, social manners and practically everything under the sun.<br /><br />Director Steve Anderson gains some insightful moments of the word's origins, myths such as acronyms - i.e. (For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge), how it is employed in language and grammatically so (anger; as a noun or verb, etc.), the way it is depicted in film (with a selection of some memorable on screen moments from its first film, "M*A*S*H" in 1970 on up to and including "Scarface" (some 180 odd times, "Pulp Fiction" to "Terms of Endearment" to my fave, "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" where Steve Martin says it 18 times in one hilarious sequence; interesting side-bar : no Martin Scorsese films or Robert De Niro letting his favorite expletive fly!), the notorious "7 Dirty Words" comic routine from stand-up comedian George Carlin and the initial rulings and finings from the FCC and even Vice President Cheney eating crow for his invective on the Senate floor.<br /><br />While the debate of how horrifying it still maintains its ugliness and the way it is colorfully used by the late, great stand-up comic Lenny Bruce remains to be a controversial state of affairs from the prudes who can't tolerate it (Boone and Miss Manners offering ridiculous rejoinders) to those who relish it (Milch whose "Deadwood" series on HBO averaged some 90 uses per episode in its rookie season), the explosive expletive still maintains a running board taboo in the right-wing conservative forum as well as the Christian collective in America (the film keeps the discussion almost exclusively to American dialogue) and how we use language in many shapes and forms, often with miscommunication as the end result.<br /><br />While the documentary has some entertaining bits, including the welcome animation from Bill Plympton, (for those who don't mind all the cussing) the film still spins its wheels more-or-less shrugging its collective shoulders as to no muss, no fuss with its no-frills demeanor. So if you don't have an interest you can say f**k it! Otherwise not too f*****g bad.