This nice Guardian review of Shortbus has a few good quotes. (When reading these, bear in mind that the film shows a certain amount of explicit sexual activity.)

One quote, recounting a discussion with his (conservative Christian) parents about the film:

Have they watched Shortbus?

'No, they said, "Well, you didn't go to see The Passion of the Christ..." I
pointed out that they did not make The Passion of the Christ. And anyhow, why
would I prefer to go and see some three-hour film in which a man is flayed
alive than two people having it off? That kind of says all you need to know
about this stupid Western culture we live in.

Another quote from the article, talking about the lack of furor:

He was a little disappointed about the fact his film had not excited picket
lines of shocked Middle Americans, or fulminating editorials, but he put it
down not to a new open-mindedness but to Republicans being 'busy losing the
midterm elections and with their own sexual scandals'. He felt he had done his
level best to stir up a little patriotic debate - in one memorable scene, the
hindmost participant in a gay threesome sings a necessarily muffled version of
'The Star-Spangled Banner' - but there was nothing.

Heh.

I saw the film a few weeks ago, and it was pretty good. Surprisingly low key, in fact, given the trailers and the subject matter.

--titus