Polyester

This movie had me laughing my rear off when I first saw it. I have never been a major John Waters fan. His early stuff was more grotesque than funny in my somewhat less than humble opinion. This film is delightfully offensive and hilarious. It's sort of in the 'Animal House' league of humor. Which is a nice change of pace from Waters earlier flicks.

I have to comment on this movie.It was 1981 and it was my birthday.I moved to a new job and knew absolutely no one and went to a theater to see "Polyester" knowing nothing about it.It was raining and as soon as I entered to buy a ticket three employees started laughing and looking at me.They said you are the only one here to see the movie.I was handed a card and I went to a seat and sat down and the previews started.An usher walked by and I said hey,turn down the lights and turn up the sound.I put my feet up on a seat-back and thought hey,this is okay.It was my first John Waters movie and I laughed a lot at the crazy movie.I used the scratch and sniff card as prompted by the screen which was cool.I had a great time.It wasn't until several years later when I saw more Water's films that I even knew that Divine was actually a man and Water's films were a wee tad irregular.If you are humored by odd movies and odd people then watch the movie.I wish I had saved the scratch and sniff card.Not a movie for the kids.

If John Waters did nothing else in his career he created the fabulous screen team of Divine and Tab Hunter. Back in the day when he was one of Henry Willson's chiseled clients he was linked often on and off screen with Natalie Wood. Personally I think he works much better with Divine.

Polyester and it seemed everyone was wearing the fabric in 1981 in some manner is a wonderful satire on the American scene. Like Married With Children the Fishpaws are your typical American family seen with a jaundiced eye. But the Fishpaws make the Bundys look like the Cleavers.

Our leading character is Divine all 300 pounds of her who has let herself go to seed married to this bum of a husband David Samson who is getting on with his secretary. Divine is a good Christian woman who lives the middle class life due to Samson's income from a drive- in he owns where porn rules.

Her daughter Mary Garlington is the Kelly Bundy of the 80s. And her son Ken King has issues that make Bud Bundy look like the All American kid. He's not called the Baltimore Stomper for nothing.

In the end she gets shed of Samson and meets her dream man, Tab Hunter. But that's only the beginning.

Divine created some very funny characters for John Waters in her life. But they had a touch of pathos and sadness as well. This was her great strength as a performer.

Waters serves up some real funny stuff in Polyester. It's positively Divine.

John Waters is truly a great director. I had seen Pink Flamingoes but not to much of his earlier work. I am more familiar with his later works like Serial Mom or Cecil B. Demented, which is all great stuff. Polyester is the bridge, as so many people put it, between his disgusting yet entertaining earlier work to more mainstream films like Hairspray.

Divine plays Francine Fishpaw. A rather large lady who is married to a man who owns a pornographic theater. Her son is a drug attic who loves to smash womens feet and her daughter is a wannabe Go-Go dancer who gets herself pregnant. Francine has only one friend in the world and that is Cuddles who is wonderfully played by Edith Massey. After Francine catches her husband sleeping with another woman (Mink Stole) Francine's life starts going into a downward spiral as she can't control her children and she becomes an alcoholic. Only, when she meets a man named Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter) do things start to change... or do they?

I had a grin on my face throughout the whole movie. The storyline sounds pretty depressing but only John Waters could have pulled this off and turn it into a complete comedy. Divine is right at home in her role as Francine. You truly do feel completely sorry for her. Edith Massey is excellent in the role as Cuddles and is definitely the most likable character in the whole movie. What made this movie so great for me was when this came out in theaters I was to young to see this. I just recently bought it on DVD and it comes with an actual Scratch N' Sniff card for the movie! Great stuff! This movie gets a 9/10 from me.

This later John Water's flick didn't have the same effect, grossness, punch, and ultimate filth of his earlier work, but it still is funny and suitable entertainment. The story of the Fishpaw family is a funny, polished satire of the corrupted and degenerately hypocritical world of the U.S suburb, but it's a mainstream movie, and a comedy, not a cult. The Fishpaws consist of Francine(christian mother and alcoholic, palyed by Divine), Dexter (shoe fetish and glue sniffer), cheating husband Elmer (runs a porn theater and cheats on Francine with Mink Stole, playing his cheap secretary Sandra) and slut daughter Lulu. Edith Massey is fabulous as Cuddles, she's better than Divine. Divine still is campy here, but not the godess of filth. A funny story of the Fishpaw family, centered around Francine, for whom nothing can go right and whose life is a tragedy. John Waters wrote and directed this mainstream, cleaned-up satire of the filthy suburbs supremely, but it lacks punch. Divine is too Christian and slapsticky, as the film is in general. This film was done with the Odorama process, in which when a number flashed on the screen you scratched your Odorams card on the matching number and a disgusting or beautiful scent would emit from the card. This is an interesting gimmick, and even though it's not reproduced on home video, you can tell what the smell would be because of the numbers still on the film and the imagery on screen at the time. An interesting but mainstream John Waters movie, which he wrote superbly.