PECKER (1998) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge
Writer/Director: John Waters Starring: Edward Furlong, Christina Ricci, Lili Taylor, Mary Kay Place, Mark Joy, Brendan Sexton III, Jean Schertler, Martha Plimpton, Lauren Hulsey, Patty Hearst, Bess Armstrong, Greg Gorman
If you look at the statue of Benjamin Franklin that stands above all the buildings in Philadelphia from a certain perspective, it seems as if he has a giant erect penis. Looking at things from a different perspective and discovering humor in them is one of the things that make life tolerable, and the lead character in this film, nicknamed Pecker for his bizarre eating habits (yeah, right), sees this, a habit which is introduced in one of the film's first images, that of a statue of George Washington looked at from a different perspective that makes is eerily similar to the Franklin statue in Philadelphia. Is there a connection between all the stautes of these Revolutionary Era heroes?
Played by Edward Furlong, Pecker is a cheerful teenage photographer living in Baltimore who takes pictures so much that whenever he needs Kodak film, he sets up an elaborate shoplifting scam from the local grocery store. Using a small camera he got from his mom's Thrift store, he takes pictures of anything even remotely interesting, and has become a bit of a celebrity around town because of it.
Of course, it helps that he has pretty interesting subjects. His girlfriend, Shelly (Christina Ricci, who has officially become "la reine d'art house"), is a laundromat-nazi who occasionally pulls down the zipper on her blouse so Pecker can take a pic of her cleavage. His younger sister, Chrissy (Lauren Hulsey), is a notorious sugar fiend. His older sister, Tina (Martha Plimpton), works at a gay strip bar named the "Fudge Palace." His father (Mark Joy) works at a bar which is losing business because a lesbian tittie bar has opened across the street from him, causing him to bitch about how it's against the law to show beaver whilst serving liquor. His best friend, Matt (Brendan Sexton III, from "Welcome to the Dollhouse"), is a masterful thief. His grandma (Jean Schertler) has a statue of the Virgin Mary that talks...with grandma pulling a switch on its back that moves its lips and doesn't seem to realize she's doing ventriloquist work for the voice. And there's his mom (Mary Kay Place), who happily works at the Thrift Store and boasts she can dress anyone nicely for a mere quarter.
When Pecker shows a free art show at his work, a New York art dealer, Rorey (Lili Taylor), shows up and immeadiately loves his work, and gets him a show up in New York. The critics and art freaks love his work, dubbing him "a more humane Diane Arbus." Pecker has become a little Andy Warhol: a young artist who's discovered from a small home town. But Warhol stayed in New York, while Pecker finds he has to decide what he wants to do. His art ends up doing more harm to his family than good, but on the other hand, he'll be the toast of the New York art world and will be set for life.
"Pecker"'s the latest from John Waters, the hilarious man with a paper-thin moustache, and known for his ghastly disgusting films, the most notorious being "Pink Flamingoes," the film that shocked the world over 25 years ago with images such as a woman eating shit and a song and dance done by a pair of testicles. I've, sadly enough, never seen one of his films, but have come to admire the guy from interviews, articles, and most brilliantly, a guest appearance on "The Simpsons" that was nothing short of absolute hilarity.
But with "Pecker," he must have calmed down. A lot. Sure, he shocks us with a couple jokes. There's a shot of what has to be the closest image of a woman's pubic hair in an R rated film. There's the image of two rats fucking. There's the hilarious introduction to a gay-bar fetish known as "tea bagging" (guess what it entails). And I almost don't need to mention that the title is the best of the year (after seeing it, you can tell your friends "Yeah, I just saw John Waters' 'Pecker'"). Of course, when a film's title is the film's best joke, you're really in trouble, and after these few jokes, varying in hilarity, that's really about it as far as jokes that are actually humorous. Waters has become infamous for making people laugh with disgusting images and scenes, those which cross over into what is commonly referred to as "bad taste," but which can easily become comedy to anyone who doesn't always need subtlety with their humor.
But that's not what's really wrong with this film. We do expect something extremely shocking from John Waters, but it would still be fine if he did calm down and made a film that was hilarious without resorting to NC-17 tactics. The problem is it's just not very funny. Nor is it subtle. Waters has created a film here that really could be very hilarious. Take the joke about the Virgin Mary statue - there are countless jokes that could be really funny about this. Waters uses about two of them. And they're not really the really funny ones.
Instead of really funny humor, with scenes that are so vile and gross that we just can't help but kick the chairs in front of us with fitful laughing, we get scenes that are so blatant in their message and so jaw-droppingly unfunny that we can't help but just sit there, staring at it, and wondering what Waters thought was exactly humorous about them. In one scene, Shelly discovers Pecker kissing Rorey in his basement, and a chase ensues between Pecker and Shelly which ends up in a voting booth (I guess when you have to vote, you have to vote), where they have loud, physical, and clothed sex. Just not funny.
It's sad, too, that Waters can't do satire without subtlety. His characters say exactly what the problem is whenever the problem arises, like "My pictures are turning my life inside out." And while the culture shock between the odd balls of Baltimore and the art world of New York is occasionally funny (when coming home from New York, some Baltimorians kiss the street), it's shots at the art world are stale. As if they actually needed skewering. It would be funnier if a new angle was taken or if the Baltimorians were more humorous.
"Pecker" may be pretty much bad and unfunny, but it's not totally unworthwhile. Some of the performances, particularly the ones by Christina Ricci and Mary Kay Place, are right on. There are some moments that are oddly funny, like a bizarre scene where a social worker makes a house call to put the younger sister on Ridlin. These are what redeem it slightly. But when there's a dinner scene where Pecker makes a lengthy, corny speech where he thanks everyone from his hometown for inspiring him while there are numerous annoying side comments, and this scene is not the worst scene in the film, well, that just doesn't leave a whole lot to recommend.
MY RATING (out of 4): **
Homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8335/
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