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Career Suicide: Vince the ShamWow Guy Wears Blackface in Movie With Lindsay Lohan

By Jim Edwards

Updated on: August 4, 2010 / 6:43 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

Is Vince Offer -- the ShamWow guy who also goes by the name Vince Shlomi -- trying to ruin his career? America's favorite infomercial pitchman is about to appear in blackface in a taste-free movie he also wrote and directed. For good measure, the film stars Lindsay Lohan (something of a pitchwoman herself) who plays her part wearing her court-ordered alcohol monitoring ankle bracelet.

You can see by the trailer (below) that "Underground Comedy 2010" is a likely candidate for worst movie ever made. In addition to Vince showing up as a gangsta with hair curlers, there are jokes about fellatio with pigs, supermodels on the toilet and dead babies. The video is not safe for work.

Vince dropped off the national TV radar after he was arrested for beating up a prostitute in Miami. He began inching his way back to the direct response TV format with an amusing spoof of his own work that he did to promote Eminem's new album. All he needed to do was find a new product, put on his headset, and start yelling at us again. America was ready for Vince to come home!

But this new movie is a disaster. Here's a sample of online reaction:

Even though we had literally zero expectations that this would be a quality movie, it's somehow even worse than anyone could have imagined.
Even expecting something awful, that was bafflingly terrible.

The film is apparently an "update" of a 2008 version, released when Vince had a much lower profile. A reviewer described it thus:

Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying it's a good film. I can confidently state that The Underground Comedy Movie sucks. But I just don't think it's a strong candidate for worst movie of all time.

Vince has talent. Infomercial pitching is one of the most difficult jobs in advertising, and to be genuinely appealing, as he is in his Slap Chop spot, is unusual. So it's baffling that Vince seemingly refuses to play to his strengths.

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