# Pecker (1998)

### reviewed by
Nathaniel R. Atcheson

    Pecker (1998)

Director: John Waters Cast: Edward Furlong, Christina Ricci, Mary Kay Place, Brendan Sexton, Martha Plimpton, Lili Taylor Screenplay: John Waters Producers: John Fiedler, Mark Tarlov Runtime: 87 min. US Distribution: Fine Line Features Rated R: sexuality, graphic nudity, language, drug use

By Nathaniel R. Atcheson (nate@pyramid.net)

John Waters' new film, Pecker, tells the story of its title character, a teenage boy (Edward Furlong) who likes to take pictures of everything he sees. The film closely follows a few months of his life, during which we are introduced to the various people he knows. There's his girlfriend, Shelley (Christina Ricci), a harsh and cynical girl who runs the local laundromat; she's very decided on her laundromat policies. Then there's his insane and intensely happy family, soccer-mom (Mary Kay Place) and bartending dad (Mark Joy), and his maniacal sugar-freak sister, Little Chrissy (Lauren Hulsey). Included in, but not residing with, the family is Tina (Martha Plimpton), who DJs in the local gay bar.

All of this is a rather colorful backdrop to a strangely perfunctory subplot involving art dealer Rorey Wheeler (Lili Taylor) who sees Pecker's work at his first show (which he holds in a burger joint). She thinks he's "brilliant" and "a genius" (those art dealers are always so quick to label), and soon the entire art world agrees with her. He has his opening in New York, and his photos immediately sell for huge amounts of money. With his popularity, however, Pecker soon becomes disliked in his hometown of Baltimore as the residents are hounded by reporters wanting insights into Pecker's life.

Waters, over the last few decades, has made some interesting pictures, almost none of which I've seen. The only one I have seen is Serial Mom, which I enjoyed immensely. Pecker is also enjoyable, and often hilarious, but, by the end, I wondered what it was all about: the film really has no center. Its themes are pretty limp; we've had more than one criticism of the art world this year (Henry Fool and High Art come to mind), so Pecker seems weak by comparison. As entertainment, it more or less works, but I can't help thinking that the film could have been better.

I like Furlong as an actor, but I haven't seen him do much of anything interesting since Terminator 2. He's not unlikable here, but he displays very little of the energy that he did in his first performance. I think he can act, and he does have presence, but he doesn't show much of that in Pecker. Ricci, on the other hand, has certainly proven herself (even if you only count 1998 films); she's also strangely sedate here, though she has a few shining moments (the scenes involving her attacking her customers are very funny). Most of the other performances are highly energetic: Place and Joy create wonderfully cloying parents; Plimpton is likable as a homosexually-obsessed woman; Taylor is perfectly pitched for satire; and young Hulsey is dead-on as the ADD child.

But I'm not sure what brings it all together. Waters is telling a story, but the story is one we've heard before: small-town kid makes it big and decides he doesn't like it. What makes Pecker unique is its unbelievable sense of giddy madness. This film is ridiculously happy and upbeat; Pecker's home life, for instance, is everything a kid could hope for (actually, the family values displayed in the film are surprisingly strong). But how does this compare to the dirty scenes featuring lesbian strippers (one of the film's funnier moments)? The last line of the film, which has Pecker shouting, "I think I'm gonna direct movies!" makes me wonder if Waters was attempting some kind of rough autobiography. In all honesty, I don't know what the film is about, and I left it feeling rather indifferent.

I did, however, enjoy myself as I watched it. I laughed frequently, the high points including the lesbian dance sequence (truly hilarious) and a great scene outside a male strip bar where heterosexual patrons are dying to get "tea bagged." Pecker has its moments -- and there are many -- but I wish Waters had been a little more straightforward with what he was trying to accomplish. It's a film that will make you laugh and leave you feeling unmoved, unless, of course, you've never ever seen a film about a small town kid making it big. Even so, it doesn't add much dimension to the premise.

    **1/2 out of ****
    (6/10, C+)

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               Nathaniel R. Atcheson

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