Fuck

Although its premise could easily make for a dire, dim-witted snarkfest, Steve Anderson’s exegesis of the word fuck as a linguistic and cultural phenomenon makes for a thoughtful and even challenging doc. It’s standard shot-on-video talking-heads stuff, but the interviewees—ranging from Ron Jeremy to an incensed Miss Manners—generally acquit themselves well, and profanity’s role in the culture wars is given a sophisticated airing. Trenchant blowhards on both sides of the issue hold forth, and HBO’s Deadwood, the very apotheosis of fuck, is given its due. (Opens Fri; Quad.) — Mark Holcomb