''Ringmaster'' is a 1998 American

dark Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low l ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

starring

Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Jerry Springer'' between September 30, 1991 and July 26, 2018, an ...

as a fictional version of himself named Jerry Farrelly, host of a show similar to his own called ''Jerry''.

Plot

There are three ongoing plots in the film. The primary one surrounds a

white trash White trash is a derogatory racial and class-related slur used in American English to refer to poor white people, especially in the rural southern United States. The label signifies a social class inside the white population and especially a ...

trailer park A trailer park,caravan park, mobile home park, mobile home community or manufactured home community is a temporary or permanent area for mobile homes and travel trailers. Advantages include low cost compared to other housing, and quick and ea ...

family in which the slutty Angel is sleeping with her mother's husband, prompting the mother to constantly try to outdo her promiscuous daughter's behavior out of spite, including sleeping with her daughter's boyfriend. The secondary plot revolves around an urban

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

woman called Starletta whose boyfriend Demond is sleeping with her two best friends, but the three are united against Demond when he eyes up the trashy but sexy Angel. He spends the rest of the film trying to get into naughty Angel's knickers, while his jealous girlfriend Starletta is frantically trying to prevent Demond from enjoying the promiscuous blonde. Unfortunately for Starletta, horny Angel manages to sneak Demond into her hotel room where he wastes little time in getting her clothes off and into bed much to smug Angel's evident delight. Starletta stalks the hotel corridors desperate to stop her bed-hopping boyfriend from humping the skanky teen but is unable to stop Demond and Angel's night of pleasure. The third plot revolves around Jerry and the show itself, detailing the difficulty Jerry faces in trying to come to terms with his rather dubious claim to fame, and the staff's utter amazement at the bizarre stories they must deal with. A minor sub-plot involves a producer on the show who mistakenly picks up one of the guests, a self-proclaimed " man-by-day-woman-by-night."

Cast

as Jerry Farrelly *

Jaime Pressly Jaime Elizabeth Pressly (born July 30, 1977) is an American actress, fashion designer, and model. Best known for her role as Joy Turner on the NBC sitcom ''My Name Is Earl'', she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in ...

as Angel Zorzak *

William McNamara William West McNamara (born March 31, 1965) is an American film and television actor. Personal life Born in Dallas, Texas, McNamara is the son of a Ford Motor Company employee and an interior designer. He attended Salisbury School, Columbia U ...

as Troy Davenport *

Molly Hagan Molly Joan Hagan is an American actress. She co-starred in films '' Code of Silence'' (1985), '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' (1987), '' The Dentist'' (1996), ''Election'' (1999), and '' Sully'' (2016), and is also known for her roles in television o ...

as Connie Zorzak *

John Capodice John Capodice (born December 25, 1941)John Capodice
. ''TVSA.org''. is an American character actor.

< ...

as Mel Riley *

Wendy Raquel Robinson Wendy Raquel Robinson is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as high school principal Regina "Piggy" Grier on The WB comedy sitcom ''The Steve Harvey Show'' (1996–2002), and as sports agent Tasha Mack on The CW/ BET/Paramo ...

as Starletta * Ashley Holbrook as Willie * Tangie Ambrose as Vonda Simmons *

Nicki Micheaux Nicole "Nicki" Micheaux (born 1971) is an American actress, known for her role as Jennifer 'Jenn' Sutton in the ABC Family drama series '' Lincoln Heights'' (2007–2009), for which she received two NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a ...

as Leshawnette *

Michael Jai White Michael Jai White (born November 10, 1967) is an American actor, director and martial artist. He was the first African American to portray a major comic book superhero in a major motion picture, starring as Al Simmons, the protagonist in the 199 ...

as Demond *

Krista Tesreau Krista Tesreau (born January 10, 1964; St. Louis, Missouri) is an American actress. Career Tesreau is best known for her role as Melinda “Mindy” Lewis on the CBS soap opera ''Guiding Light'', which she portrayed from 1983 to 1989. In 1987 T ...

as Catherine Winicott * Dawn Maxey as Natalie * Maximilliana as Charlie / Claire *

Michael Dudikoff Michael Joseph Stephen Dudikoff Jr. (born October 8, 1954) is an American actor and martial artist. Born in New York City, his family later moved to Los Angeles. Dudikoff did different jobs to pay for his education, during this time he became a mo ...

as Rusty

Reception

The film had a generally negative reception, with

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

giving it a 21% rating (with an average rating of 3.2 out of 10). The film won a

Golden Raspberry Award The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...

for Worst New Star (Jerry Springer, tied with

Joe Eszterhas József A. Eszterhás ( born November 23, 1944) is a Hungarian-American writer. He attended Ohio University. He wrote the screenplays for the films ''Flashdance'', '' Jagged Edge'', ''Basic Instinct'' and '' Showgirls''. His books include ''Ameri ...

for his small cameo in '' An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn''). The film was a

box office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

, grossing back less than half its budget.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack containing hip hop music was released on March 23, 1999 by Lil' Joe Records. It peaked at number 80 on the

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine that ranks contemporary R&B, R&B and hip hop music, hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. Th ...

. The film also features the single ''Talk Show Shh!'' by

Shae Jones Shae Jones (born July 27, 1978 in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American R&B singer. She was discovered in the late 1990s by R&B star Montell Jordan, who liked the fact that her voice did not sound like other voices. After signing with Uptown ...

which peaked at number 88 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. A music video for the song was made to promote the film and featured Springer. However, the song was not included on the soundtrack album.

References

External links

* * * Artisan Entertainment films 1998 films 1998 comedy films 1990s English-language films Films about interracial romance American comedy films The Kushner-Locke Company films Golden Raspberry Award winning films Films about television 1990s American films {{1990s-comedy-film-stub