R-Rated Comedy From Legendary Controversial Director Is Being Forgotten
John Waters has given audiences some of the raunchiest takes on slices of Americana since his cult classic Pink Flamingos first shocked and endeared film-goers in 1972. While achieving some mainstream successes with Hairspray (1988) and Cry-Baby (1990), most of his entries aren’t known for box office successes that instead garner fevered followings that elevate them to cult-film status. One of the famed director’s most overlooked modern productions was the 1998 comedy Pecker, a movie that remains difficult to find for modern audiences.
From Sandwich Slinger To Art Icon
Pecker is a movie that gives audiences a satirical overview of New York City art snobbery, showing many of their players as oafish hacks that give credence to the idea that much of what they consider “art” to be nothing more than a mere put-on. The film’s title character (played by Edward Furlong) is an 18-year-old amateur photographer that grinds out a living working in a local sandwich shop. Pecker spends his spare time taking photos of his family, friends, and others that he sees in his day-to-day life.
Rorey’s Wheeling And Dealing
Pecker’s photos are nothing exceptional by any standard. But his lack of proper training, cheap equipment, and dull subject matter are seen as genius by New York City art dealer Rorey Wheeler (Lili Taylor), who takes the teen’s work and makes him the biggest new thing with New York art collectors.
But Pecker’s life is completely upended with his new-found fame in this movie. The movie shows how the subjects of his photographs are mocked and ridiculed by the collectors that are eagerly purchasing his work. The hilarious foibles of his friends and family are exposed to the world, giving him pause to continue living the life of a successful photographer.
John Waters Mockery In Top-Form
John Waters succeeds in grossly exaggerating the wacky attributes of the many complicated characters that he introduces audiences to in Pecker. But while his film seems to mock a certain class of uncultured, low information types from a Baltimore neighborhood, Waters really uses the movie to take jabs at hacks in the New York art world before delivering a devastating uppercut to them during the film’s concluding moments.
A Legendary Lineup
Waters assembles many familiar faces from his entourage of players, including Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, and Patricia Hearst. Waters himself cameos in Pecker, lending his voice to the movie as the source of an explicit phone call.
A Worthy Waters Endeavor
GFR SCORE
While Pecker is standard Waters fare for transgressive filmmaking, the movie doesn’t contain the absurdly vulgar dialogue or plot devices that many of the director’s other works are known for. Rather, the film is more akin to much of the work he committed himself to in the latter part of the 1980s and throughout the 1990s.
With less shock and schlock than Female Trouble or Polyester, and certainly more mainstream appeal than the cult classic Pink Flamingos, Pecker seems to be a toned-down version of Waters’ imagination, though it still checks all the boxes for great satire and solid overall filmmaking.
Currently, the only way to view Pecker is to rent the movie on Apple TV+.
