Pecker (1998)

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

It has only been a week since I saw my first John Waters film (Female Trouble), and I wasn't sure what to expect the second time around.While the previous film was outrageously over the top, Pecker is actually a funny film that satirizes the art critics in New York to a T. Anyone who cannot imagine what these "Experts" find so appealing about modern art, will enjoy seeing these pretentious snobs get so full of themselves over Pecker, a boy who just found a broken camera and starts shooting his friends and neighbors.Edward Furlong (Pet Sematary II, Terminator 2: Judgment Day) was surprisingly good as Pecker. There wasn't a lot of meat on any of the roles in this film, but he really shines.Christina Ricci (Prozac Nation) comes in with another great performance as Pecker's girlfriend. In fact, it was a banner year for Ricci (Buffalo '66, The Opposite of Sex, and Pecker.Lili Taylor, who had the only good role in The Haunting, was also a significant part of the film and really made it enjoyable.There are many funny scenes, but I have to say the best was when a crown gathers screaming, "We want bush!" "We want bush!" "We want bush!" I thought it was a Republican convention until I saw the police hauling off the dancer.I am going to have to look for more of Waters' work, especially Hairspray, now that that is in the news.

John Waters movies are like John Travolta movies. There is a wide range of good and bad within both of their bodies of work. That said, this is my all-time favorite John Waters movie because he tackles the story of an artist making his art on his own terms in a sweet and funny way. If you liked "Hairspray", "Cry Baby" and "Lust in The Dust", you will definitely like this film. The dysfunctional characters are wonderful and I think this flick says a lot about where we must draw our inspiration as artists. "Pecker" fits in really nicely with other dysfunctional family classics like "Orange County" and "Little Miss Sunshine". The soundtrack is perfect, and the movie has a great pace from start to finish. If you are an artist or dream of being an artist, you absolutely must see this film!

John Waters became a cult-cinema hero in the 70's instantly after delivering the bad-taste milestone "Pink Flamingos" and he continued pleasing his trash-horny fans (including me) with extraordinary and incomparable movies like "Female Trouble", "Desperate Living" and "Polyester". True, Waters' movies were offensive, shocking and often repulsive but they simultaneously were unique outsiders in an overall politically correct American film industry. Nearly twenty years later, there's very few ingeniousness left inside Water's mind and it also looks like he has developed morality and grew a consciousness. He still pretends to be controversial by portraying his beloved Baltimore as an antipathetic wasteland where the people are shameless and eccentric, but he sure ain't provoking anybody. The plot of "Pecker" is very ordinary and basically just a reworking of two of the oldest 'lessons' in storytelling. 1) success and wealth do not equal happiness and 2) home sweet home... even if it is Baltimore! Pecker works in a snack bar but he merely is obsessed by photography and spends his days stalking friends, family and neighbors with a camera as the extension of his eyes. During a local presentation, he's discovered by a fancy New York art dealer and, all of a sudden, every eminent art critic is interested in Pecker's portrayal of the 'culturally challenged' (like described beautifully in the film) models. The dialogs are dull, the script is unoriginal and most gags are so tasteless that they seem to come straight out of a Farrelly-brothers movie (sex in a cubicle?). The acting isn't very good neither and especially Christina Ricci was a bad choice to play the neurotic laundry-shrew. Thank God there also are some positive things to mention! The little Chrissy character, for example, Pecker's hyperactive and sugar-addicted kid sister. Or the "shopping for others" game, which really looks like fun.

'Pecker' is one of those films that you watch when you've got nothing better to do. However, unlike many of those films, Pecker is one that almost makes you glad that you had nothing better to do as if you had, you wouldn't have seen it. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather have been at lottery HQ collecting my winnings, on the phone to a representative from my local pub telling me that I've won free beer for life or even simply enjoying a night in with several top supermodels; but on the whole, I rate the eighty five minutes I spent watching this as time well spent. The film is called 'Pecker' because that's the name of it's central character, but something tells me that Mr John Waters named the film so for other, more innuendo related, reasons. Anyway, Pecker is a rather odd young man who lives in a rather odd small town somewhere in America. Pecker's hobby is to take photos of anything and everything, and claim that it's art. This hobby, one day, attracts the attention of a New York art dealer and Pecker is transported into super-stardom, much to the dismay of his Laundromat obsessed girlfriend and the rest of his small town.Director John Waters directs the film in a very surreal style, which gives it a very unique edge, and instantly grabs your attention. Waters evidently doesn't care about the integrity of film-making, and so sees fit to meld together something that can easily be seen as a mess. The leads carry Waters' mess with vigour and gusto, but never really impress or deliver great performances. Edward Furlong gives his character a naive edge, which bodes well with his small town roots. He does look more than a little bit embarrassed at times, but sort of adds to the kitsch appeal of the movie. Christina Ricci does her usual 'bitch' thing, but it doesn't work in this film as her character is supposed to be a more down to earth and snob hating, so to have her as a snob herself ensures that the film loses yet more credibility and makes it even more of a mess. The film will offend some viewers for it's rather graphic lesbian strip club scene; not to mention it's central, gay club, location, and that adds weight to the idea that this is very much a 'love it or hate it' sort of film, and I'm sure that's how Waters wants it. I, however, do not add weight to that claim as I merely thought it was 'pretty good'. Take that John!