Shallow Waters (sorry, couldn't resist it)
 Mar 27th, 2007
Advantages:
Talented lead actors in Furlong, Ricci and Taylor . . .
Disadvantages:
All of whom are wasted on this film .
Recommendable:
No
Detailed rating:
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  MCFruitbat
About me:
I support Manchester City, and like weekends and whisky. Please drop in and recommend a funny film f...
Member since:27.01.2005
Reviews:29
Members who trust:12
Review rated by 16 Ciao members on average: helpful 
The appeal of John Waters' movies has always been slightly lost on me. Hairspray and Cry Baby are two of the least enjoyable films I have ever seen, so you would be perfectly entitled to ask why I even bothered watching Pecker. Well, the answer, quite simply, is that it was for sale for £2 at the local video shop and I had noticed a couple of very positive reviews on Ciao. In addition, I did quite enjoy Waters's previous movie Serial Mom (even though the word "Mom" sends shockwaves of cringeful irritation down my spine) so I thought it would be worth a go. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Wrong.
Pecker follows the life of a young, handsome and ambitious aspiring photographer played by Edward Furlong. Right from the opening scene of the film he is an incredibly snap-happy character, joyfully hopping on and off buses, taking pictures of everyday and not-so-everyday scenes and getting into various minor scrapes with his uncompliant subjects. To cut a long story short, and even at 90 minutes Pecker does seem at least an hour too long, during a show of some of his pictures which takes place at the grill cafe where Pecker works, some art afficionado from New York recognizes that Pecker is a really talented snapper. Thereafter his pictures become the toast of the art world. He nearly cheats on his girlfriend (played by the gorgeous, far-too-good-for-this-film Christina Ricci), but doesn't; he nearly relocates to New York and becomes a sell-out but doesn't; he nearly forgets what's most important about his life, but doesn't; his success almost ruins his life and the lives of his family but it doesn't.
Somewhere in between all this inaction we are introduced to Pecker's "krazy" and "zany" family, whom I think we are supposed to find delightfully "off the wall". The grandmother, for example, has a Virgin Mary doll that she uses as a ventriloquist's dummy which she claims is a miracle. Pecker's big sister works at a gay strip bar where she repeatedly warns the staff not to indulge in teabagging (oh what joyful japes), and the little sister subsists entirely on a diet of sweets until she is prescribed some anti hyperactivity drugs which turn her into a zombie (a hamfisted, anti-medication sub-plot which almost manages to be even worse than the rest of the film). Totally devoid of any subtlety or story-telling craft, Pecker disqualifies itself from being suitable for children due to both its adult themes and its too-stupid-even-for-kids storyline.
I watched this film until the sacharine bitter end because last time I wrote a review of a film this bad a number of Ciao-ees gave me negative feedback for only writing a review of the first 8 minutes of Going Overboard (I challenge anyone to watch for longer!) So I watched the whole thing this time, losers, and it was awful. I hope you are all happy.
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by (44%):
by (56%):
09.10.2008 15:36
great review
23.05.2007 01:13
I didn't think this film was that bad, though it wasn't anything to shout about either. The cast was appealing, but you are right the storyline wasn't up to snuff. I just wrote a review on John Water's last film called A DIRTY SHAME, which I absolutely loved...though something tells me you wouldn't like it. Great review here by the way!!! Chris x
27.03.2007 17:35
I only watched this for Edward Furlong. You are right, it's not a great film - Kupo x