A Dirty Shame is a 2004 American satirical sex comedy film written and directed by John Waters and starring Tracey Ullman, Johnny Knoxville, Selma Blair, and Chris Isaak.

It follows a community in suburban Baltimore divided between people with highly conservative attitudes towards sexuality, and those who have been turned into sex addicts after experiencing concussions.

Due to its sexual themes and content, it received an NC-17 rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, which limited the scope of its release and marketing, and it grossed $1.5 million domestically.

[4] The people of Harford Road are firmly divided into two camps: the neuters, the puritanical residents who despise anything even remotely carnal; and the perverts, a group of sex addicts whose unique fetishes have all been brought to the fore by accidental concussions.

Sylvia's promiscuous daughter Caprice, a go-go dancer at a local biker dive-bar, the Holiday House, under the stage name "Ursula Udders" because of her very large N-cup breast implants and has a penchant for indecent exposure.

One day, after leaving Caprice locked up over the garage, under house arrest "for her own good", Sylvia is smacked on the head by a passing car and meets Ray-Ray Perkins, a local mechanic and self-styled "sex saint" who opens her mind to a whole new world of sensual pleasure, as he and his followers search for the ultimate sex act.

In a featurette on the DVD veteran stage actress Suzanne Shepherd recalled that when she was cast as Big Ethel, she was completely unfamiliar with Waters' work and she had no idea what to expect when she showed up for the first script review.

[12] One of the more positive reviews came from Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times, who wrote A gross-out pioneer, Waters has always had more on his mind than delirious, sex-crazed silliness.

By allowing people to speak freely about their sexual urges and practices with a bluntness that is jaw-droppingly hilarious, Waters has drawn deeply upon comedy's liberating power.

[13]Also enthusiastic was Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, who wrote A Dirty Shame is Waters unleashed, and wicked, kinky fun for anyone except the twits who rated it NC-17...You may even shed a tear when Sylvia bonds with her daughter by confessing, "I'm a cunnilingus bottom."