Can this movie possibly live up to its hype?

Ever since I found out that Bob Saget of Full House-fame tells the dirtiest version of the world's dirtiest joke in the movie The Aristocrats, I've been dying to see it.

And, like a book banned in Boston, the AMC movie chain's decision not to show the film is certain to sell more tickets.

Who wouldn't want to see a movie about a "secret" joke?

The movie is a long deconstruction by a collection of comedians and comedy writers, of an old and archetypal vaudeville joke that's rarely told in public. Indeed, the telling is a private ritual—akin, says one observer, to a secret handshake: It's the joke you do for other comedians after the audience has left the club.

I don't know about you, but I always want in on any secret.

Throw in the promise that Whoopi Goldberg is actually funny in the movie and it becomes a must see.

But can it really be that funny, or disgusting? Unfortunately, in the greater-Baltimore area we only have one so-called independent theater and the movie's not there yet. I'm afraid that by the time I do get around to seeing it, my expectations will be too great.

Thanks to Jim Lewis, we now know the joke's setup if not its "catchy as a pop hook" but unfunny punchline. A family of four and a dog? Doesn't take a wildly inventive mind to see the obscene possibilities in that combination.

We'll just have to wait and see.