Notorious C.H.O.

Stand-up comic Margaret Cho’s second concert film records a performance at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre. Cho throws herself into it, cinematographer Kirk Miller keeps her center-frame and reasonably in focus most of the time, and editor Lorene Machado cuts from camera to camera often enough to justify her paycheck. Cho’s fans are sure to be entertained; it’s only fair in the interest of full disclosure to say that—on the basis of this film alone—I’m not one of them. Cho’s kiss-and-tell dissection of her sex life is something between her and her partners, but the stories aren’t funny, her insights aren’t deep, and the impersonations she offers of everyone from video-store clerks to her own mother are harsh and abrasive. Other viewers (like the 2,000 or so in the Paramount audience) might well disagree.