Female Trouble

Devine was certainly no stranger to trash films when John Waters assembled the cast of this Baltimore gem, and it shows. Devine is gregarious, derisive at times, a stunning fem fatale who nearly steals the show as both Dawn Davenport, and her alter-ego, Earl, who staggers and lurches his way into our hearts. This film is one of the few times Devine did male drag, and he pulls it off with astonishing effect. Mink Stole is priceless as Taffy, Dawn's long suffering daughter, and of course who could forget Edith Massey as the torturous Aunt Ida and Dawn's nemesis. Almost as brilliant are the performances of Mary-Vivian Pearce and David Lochary, the demented couple who, after interviewing her to become a client in their Le' Lipstick beauty salon, befriend Dawn and encourage her into a fetid and ribald modeling career. Yes, it's shameless, destined for ruin, utterly unbelievable, and I loved every minute of it. Water's dialog is vehement, abominable, and not to be equaled. It's a shame that he hasn't been able to find replacement versions of Devine and Massey. It was the unorthodoxy of his whole approach to film in the 1970s that endeared thousands and made Devine a gay household name. I hope one day he can return to his roots and get down to building more fine trash.

"Female Trouble" is one of John Water's best movies, probably the best of his pre-respectable (read: pre-"Hairspray") flicks. Posessing a much more strong (and bizarre) plotline than the also brilliant "Pink Flamingos", "Female Trouble" documents the exploits of Dawn Davenport, a horrible juvenial delinquent turned criminal played by the unbeatable Divine.

This was Water's last film to features his entire original ensemble of actors (Divine, David Lochary, Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pierce, and Edith Massey) and each has a memorable and hilarious role. Stole steals the show as Dawn's "retarded" 14 year old daughter, but Edith Massey is also great as Aunt Ida, who constantly urges her nephew Gator to turn gay ("The world of the heterosexual is a sick and boring life!").

The scene where Dawn hits Ida on the head with a fish is worth the whole price of admission. Recommended!!!

I am at a complete loss to understand why this film was not nominated for an Oscar for costuming, makeup and set decoration. It had the most outrageous costuming that I have ever seen. The sets were so hideous that they made me nauseous. The makeup was beyond belief.

That was the good things about the film that featured an outrageous star in Divine, a transvestite that played Dawn Davenport. He was so over the top that I couldn't take my eyes off the screen.

This is the first John Waters (Hairspray, Pecker) film that I have seen. He is definitely on the cutting edge in outrageous humor, horror, and satire.

This film on the outrageous cult of celebrity is no more outrageous than the current obsession in the media with Paris Hilton.

If you haven't seen a John Waters film, check out the Sundance Channel for this one.

This is John Waters at his zenith. In ten minutes time this film has more hilarious, outrageous humor than most other underground, drive in films do in their entirety. Like with PINK FLAMINGOES it deserves accolades for it's sheer tasteless audacity. It is consistently funny, unrelentingly perverse, obnoxious, and ugly. Just like you would expect. It also has Waters film trademark of having the actors shout their lines instead of saying them.

This is much more of a solid satire than many may originally presume. In some ways it was way ahead of it's time. It keenly shows the cult of celebrity and the desperation some have to obtain it. How skewered the famous and infamous have become and our over emphasis on beauty. It also shows how the media exploits the desperate and causes the distorted image.

Above all though this is really Divine's vehicle. She (he) steals every scene she is in. Even just watching her do modeling poses or dancing on a bar top is hilarious. She also writes and performs the opening song and even plays a male character that has sex with her female character (very well edited). There's also one inglorious moment where you even see the close up of his genitals.

For those with the right mentality this is pure entertainment. It's also has a perverse brilliance that has lost non of it's edge of potency.

8 out of 10

God bless John Waters. He's made some of the best, crudest feel-good movies, and this is one of his crowning achievements. It's amazing how his film, ugly-looking and full of lipstick-smeared freaks, can feel positive and upbeat; while he's mocking everything in sight, he doesn't stand back and protect himself with irony or winks -- he jumps right in there, and that involvement, that energy, is easy to see and feel. It's amazing that he can feature masturbation with needle-nose pliers, beating a child with a chair, a game of "car accident," and Divine literally screwing himself and not have it be off-putting.

The very idea that Waters uses a fat transvestite with a beehive hairdo to illustrate his scorn for school shows he's not so interested in subtlety. And Divine is awesome, as always, his prissy, gravely scream -- a freak you want on your side. This is one of Waters' best satirical attempts -- there are digs at hippies and Hare Krishnas, and two scenes in particular are very prophetic: the gay encouraging, and the killing for art. Waters even mocks his own shameless exhibitionism in the testimony of the Dashers. 9/10