From hollywoodreporter.com

By Michael Rechtshaffen

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER FUCK REVIEW

Bottom line: A lively and often enlightening documentary.
That mother of all curse words -- and current FCC cash cow -- is treated to an appropriately colorful exploration courtesy of "FUCK," a lively and often enlightening documentary directed by Steve Anderson.

The film, which had its world premiere at the AFI Fest, brings together an energetic panel of talking heads, from celebrities and news commentators to politicians and linguists, along with generous film, video and audio clips and original Bill Plympton animations to weigh in on the highly incendiary but remarkably resilient F-word.

Although marquee placement could be tricky without a well-placed asterisk or two, "FUCK" makes perfect, undeniably timely sense with the right distributor. And down the road, given the theme of freedom of speech in the present political climate, it could form a dream triple bill with "Inside Deep Throat" and "The Aristocrats."

Anderson, who made his feature directorial debut with 2003's "The Big Empty," breaks it all down into bite-size chapters examining the use of the word in movies, TV shows, news, sports and, of course, politics (including the not-so-bons mots that Dick Cheney leveled at Sen. Patrick Leahy) accompanied by bright graphics and interesting factoids.

And while some myths are debunked along the way -- contrary to widespread belief, etymologists insist that the word was never an acronym for either Fornication Under Consent of the King or For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge -- the documentary gets the most mileage out of its articulate group of assembled experts.

Among them are comedians Drew Carey, Bill Maher and a particularly ripe Billy Connolly, newsmen Ben Bradlee and Sam Donaldson, directors Steven Bochco and Kevin Smith, conservative commentators Michael Medved and Alan Keyes, musicians Ice-T, Chuck D and Alanis Morissette, Judith "Miss Manners" Martin, porn stars Ron Jeremy and Tera Patrick, plus the late Hunter S. Thompson in one of his last interviews.

Then there's veteran crooner Pat Boone, who has found an inspired way around Richard Nixon's favorite expletive by taking his own name in vain every time he feels the need to curse, as in "Oh, Boone!"

While Ice-T, for one, jokingly contends the Boone-word could actually catch on, somehow one suspects George Carlin won't be amending his Seven Dirty Words list any time soon.