Margaret Cho: Assassin

Margaret Cho is and probably always will be a highly adept stand-up performer, ingratiating and unafraid of looking silly or sounding caustic; however, her fourth filmed concert, "Assassin", falls a bit short. Cho, much thinner here with her messy hair pulled back, has somehow evolved into the gay world's Everywoman, a best friend who is immediately at the ready when injustice strikes. She's a protester, an activist, a fight-for-our-rights loudspeaker against unacceptable inequality. This isn't new territory for Cho, however this is the first film she's done which is so politically charged and challenging (Cho says in the companion DVD documentary that she is not "angry", she's simply confused). Comparisons to Lenny Bruce, however, may seem a bit premature, especially as Cho has begun to leave her more personal comical experiences by the wayside--and those were her strongest moments. "Assassin" is a diatribe on President Bush, the Pope, "the gay agenda", Terry Schiavo, Bjork, and feminism--not the kind of material (recorded, by the way, in front of a nervous-seeming Washington, D.C. audience) that makes for big laughs. When Cho nails a gag (and then milks it wholeheartedly), she can be side-splittingly effective, and her segues into different topics are wonderfully smooth. But she doesn't seem quite in tune with this particular live audience, and too much of the material is hammered home without thoughtful ripples or nuances. Cho is still a cheerful presence, and fun to watch and listen to, but her more angular face and slimmer appearance (and a throatier voice?) have intruded on her body language and her vocal tricks. She's still special, she's still "the one to want", but she's running the risk of becoming just like everybody else. ** from ****

I totally love Margaret Cho's comedy, and I agree with about 99% of her political views.

This particular concert film totally sucked.

Like many have mentioned, the pace is very painful. She'd tell part of a joke, then the audience would applaud and hoot for 2 minutes, then after they settled down, she'd tell the second part of the joke and it would go on like this for the entire film.

It would be like this;

MC: Why did the chicken .... Audience: Ha ha ha! She said chicken! I love chicken! *clap clap* (for a full minute) MC: Cross the road? Audience: Hilarious! Road! There is a road outside my apartment! I love Margaret Cho! *clap* *hoot* for a full minute MC: Because it was gay! Audience: *standing ovation for 2 minutes*

I've seen most of her other concert films and I watched her TV Show (which sucked, but not because of her) and I've seen her doing stand-up on other shows and she is incredibly funny. I went to a showing of one film just because she was going to show up before the show to say hi to the audience. That's how much I love her (And I'm not even gay!)

Some reviewers are saying that the bad reviews here are because people are offended by her comedy and give it high ratings because they think Cho is courageous for speaking her mind, etc, etc... Well OK. If you want to spend an hour or so listening to her speaking her mind, that's fine. If you are looking for her typically outstanding comedy...rent one of her earlier films.

My wife fell asleep watching this movie. I think I chuckled ONCE. Most of the time I was yelling at the screen "Hurry up! Say something funny!" or "Stop clapping! Let her go on!"

The crowd really cramped her comedic timing here. They cheered her like a returning war hero...I wish they would have just let her do her thing.

Anyway, it sucked as a funny film.

Now if you respond and say that I suck because I don't agree with her stance, or that I suck because I'm putting her down, go ahead, but you are wrong. She's awesome and I love her comedy AND political views and you are doing a disservice to people looking for honest reviews. I think even if the audience rented this film and watched it, they'd think it wasn't as funny as they remembered.

More clapping then laughing says it all... it wasn't all that offensive but from the clapping from the "alergic to pussy" and the clapping I'd say 90% of the audience was gay or lesbian and just clapping to *support the community* sort of thing, publicity... I got nothing against lesbians and gays at all but this is just kinda stupid... in less your buying it just for that reason I really wouldn't bother watching this... not funny, not that offensive really either, she leaves too much time between "jokes" which are mostly statements more then jokes, very slow paced... short statements that mostly don't connect.

in summery 1. not funny 2. statements more then jokes 3. slow delivery 4. unconnected jokes expect that most are about gays 5. audience cheers and claps but doesn't laugh that much... really tells you something, they agree with what she says but she's not funny.

Typically I love Margaret Cho. I go see her when she's in town, I buy all of her DVDs, I have the posters. But this one was a big let down. It is seriously like watching some lame form of the news being broadcast. I laughed ONLY once and it was on her parody of Bjork because it was dead on. Please, please Margaret, go back to your REAL comedy and leave the boring news broadcasts to the folks in the suits at 10PM. There is little talk of her mother, little of her ordinary jokes and references and few attempts at anything funny at all. I highly recommend her first two DVDs, but beg of you to skip this one for your own sanity.

I started watching this thinking I was going to see some funny stand-up. Probably my fault for not checking, but M Cho is just a bit too hung up in all her political and gay rights issues to really be funny in this show. Not that her willingness to tackle such issues is not admirable, but it just takes the fun out of the stand-up and belongs elsewhere. And could she deliver the lines any slower? I mean if you'd cut all the annoying pauses where she is just standing there waiting for applause that does not come you'd have like a 30 minutes shorter show. So if you are not into extremely politically oriented half serious stand-up you might want to give this one a miss.