Pecker

The best thing about this movie is that it is fun. It is full of humorous characters and interesting situations, starting with the blithe, innocent Pecker (played appealingly by Edward Furlong) who likes to photograph almost everything he sees in every day life. Other great characters include Pecker's friend Matt ("he's a thief, but he's really a nice guy"), Pecker's sister Chrissy (who is addicted to sugar), and Pecker's Catholic grandmother who discovers life in a statuette of the Virgin Mary in her room.

The movie gently makes a point about how every day life has many riches to offer, and it succeeds in making this point without being too heavy-handed about it. There is always a risk, when making messages about the value and dignity of "common people", of sliding into a kind of reverse "holier than thou" - but "Pecker" avoids these traps, allowing the audience to get the point while allowing enough breathing room for viewers to compare this message to their own thoughts on the subject.

I recommend the movie mostly because it is a lot of fun.

John Waters most accessible film to date is one of his better ones, considering it cut down on all of the campiness and outright vulgarity which seem to litter most of his previous work. Sure, the nudity and the sexual references are still there, at least it is presented in a fashion

that cannot be deemed too foul or disgusting. Due to some great casting choices, this film really brought out the silliness associated with modern art and the subjective nature of your modern artist. Funny and somewhat lighthearted (if that is possible for Waters), this is one of those films I would watch on a rainy day.

John Waters does what he does best, creating comedies that hang on

that line between normal and strange. In this time around, Waters directs PECKER, about how the seemingly normal photographs taken by an average small-town kid named Pecker (Eddie Furlong) become over- night successes by different art moguls. Of course, many misadventures abound as Pecker encounters many people with different opinions about his "works of art."

The performances are basically the main highlight of the film. Furlong does a good portrayal of the snapshot-taking teen, while Christina

Ricci also shines as Pecker's alienated girlfriend. Low-key teen actor Brendan Sexton III steals the film as Pecker's best friend Matt, a go-go-dancing klepto, just the right kind of character found in a John Waters' flick!

As I am no fan of almost any post-"Desperate Living" John Waters films, I warmed to "Pecker". After he emerged from the underground, Waters produced trash-lite versions of his earlier works ("Cry Baby", "Polyester", Hairspray") that to die-hard fans looked and tasted like watered down liqueur. "Pecker", which doesn't attempt to regurgitate early successes, is a slight, quiet, humble commentary on the vagaries of celebrity and the pretentiousness of the art world. Waters clearly knows this subject well because he has also exhibited and sold (at ridiculous prices) some of the most amateurish pop art ever created that you couldn't imagine anyone being able to give away if it wasn't emblazoned with the Waters "name". Edward Furlong is fine as "Pecker" and Waters' non-histrionic style is at ease with the subject.

Just saw this in New York, it will never come to St. Croix! I liked it a lot, made me laugh. This is the most accessible of any of John Waters' movies I've seen and I like that, doesn't hit you over the head with weirdness. Waters is so good at taking a normal situation and making it appear just slightly off kilter. There are some great characters here...Ed Furlong is wonderfully wholesome and believable as Pecker, Christina Ricci is terrific in a very intense way as a too normal no frills small city girl. This movie is just plain good fun, it's easy to laugh at everybody and not feel mean spirited. Oh yeah and good to see Patty Hearst having some fun.