Pecker (1998)

Director:

John Waters

Writer (WGA):

John Waters (written by)

Release Date:

25 September 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

He never realized how far 35 millimeters would take him.

Plot:

A Baltimore sandwich shop employee becomes an overnight sensation when photographs he's taken of his...

Plot Keywords:

One Word Title | Female Nudity | John Waters | Shoplifting | Homelessness

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Edward Furlong	...	Pecker
Christina Ricci	...	Shelley
Bess Armstrong	...	Dr. Klompus
Mark Joy	...	Jimmy
Mary Kay Place	...	Joyce
Martha Plimpton	...	Tina
Brendan Sexton III	...	Matt
Mink Stole	...	Precinct Captain
Lili Taylor	...	Rorey Wheeler
Patricia Hearst	...	Lynn Wentworth
Jean Schertler	...	Memama
Lauren Hulsey	...	Little Chrissy
Mo Fischer	...	T-Bone (as Maureen Fischer)
Donald Neal	...	Mr. Bozak
Carolyn Stayer	...	Miss Betty

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, graphic nudity, language and brief drug use.

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Australia:M | Argentina:13 | Canada:14A | France:U | Japan:R-15 | Norway:11 | Portugal:M/16 (video premiere) | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R | Israel:16

Filming Locations:

Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Company:

Polar Entertainment

Trivia:

The claw machine in the bar contains, among other things, a box of Ex-Lax, a box of Gas-X, a liquor bottle filled with a dark brown liquid (bourbon maybe?), and a cell phone.

Goofs:

Continuity: Pecker serves Miss Emily a sandwich with melted cheese. The close-up shows the sandwich with unmelted slices of cheese.

Quotes:

[after boys tried smugly stealing clothes]
Blond Haired Cashier Lady: Now give me the camera and unzip your pants and show me your hardware or I'm calling the police.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "SexTV: Pink or Blue?: The Science of Sex Selection/John Waters (#7.1)" (2004)

Soundtrack:

I'm a Nut

From anti-racism to anti-modern photography: the sad decline into pointlessness of John Waters.

'Here's to the end of irony' whoops an art-phoney at the end of Pecker, and maybe John Waters has exhausted the rich mine of irony/parody/pastiche that has served him so well. His last film, the stupidly underrated Serial Mom, was a masterpiece, revealing a film-maker fully in control of his form, like late-period Hawks, hitting every satirical target, 'important' and trivial, with gleeful gusto.

The problem with Pecker, which seems to be a parody on portentous filmmakers Altman and Antonioni, is that it is aimless. Like Godard, Waters needs the blueprint of a conventional narrative model on which to hang his ideas, style, anger and wit, even if it is only to subvert it. The great thing about films like Cry-Baby and Hairspray is how he reverses the cliches of 1950s teen flicks and melodramas, breathes life into stereotypes, and moves the freaks and outsiders from the margins into main roles.

But Pecker has a dearth of arresting characters or even types - either the actors are uncharismatic, or the script is weak. There is no plot to speak of, so the Hollywood conventions Waters is so brilliant at mocking are absent. Edward Furlong leaves a big black hole in the movie with his irritating non-performance in a non-existent role. The most unforgivable disappointment, though, is the failure to properly use Christina Ricci, the best actress in movies today, and, surely, the ideal Waters heroine.

The glaring problem with the film is its irony. Previously, Waters' strength was his ambivalent attitude towards the repressive conformity he loathed, and the desire for (parodic) conformity of his affectionate freaks. This reaches its zenith in Serial Mom, where Kathleen Turner is obviously a product of the strain of middle-class propriety, yet also the delirious driving force of the film.

Here, though, the enemy is the New York intellectual elite, the most dated, pointless sitting target there is. Who cares about the fraud that is modern photography? - it's hardly a stifling social force like the suburban mindset, or American apartheid.

Whether Pecker is a stand-in for the director is unclear. His photographs attempt to capture life, but are mostly whimsical or contrived. Is the film a plea for the provincial, or a satire on it? That's the problem: the irony is so diffused that it ceases to be effective. Everyone is so nice that melodrama is negated. Perhaps Waters is trying to justify his decision to make 'local' films in Baltimore, but that's silly - making great movies like Serial Mom is justification enough.

Sheer good will forces a few guffaws, but even the jaded Simpsons take off on modern art was funnier than this. Waters' trademark stylisation is threadbare. There isn't enough material here for an amusing short.