Pecker (Film Review)

1998 Fine Line Pictures
Written and Directed by: John Waters
Starring: Edward Furlong, Christina Ricci, Bess Armstrong, Mary Kay Place, Martha Plimpton, Brendan Sexton III, Mink Stole, and Lili Taylor
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 86 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 4/10

Pecker might work at a sandwich shop, but his true passion is photography. With his thrift store camera, Pecker takes pictures of every person, place, and thing in his weird Baltimore neighborhood, and now he's caught the eye of the New York highbrow art scene. Turns out, the big city folks love the way he's framed his "culturally deficient" community. At first Pecker and his family are flattered at the attention. However, Pecker eventually finds that fame has a downside. His solution is to turn the camera on a group far more culturally deficient than the people in his hometown: the New York City art critics.
1998's Pecker features a kinder, gentler John Waters, whose sweeter writing and direction still affords him opportunities to show rats mating, closeups of furry crotches, and middle-aged men getting tea-bagged. If there's anything different here, it's certainly tone over content, as the virtuous Pecker is a sweetheart who just wants to build up and support those around him. Edward Furlong, who had a great starring role in American History X this very same year, brings just the right tone to Pecker, but unfortunately, Waters can't quite settle on a tone for Pecker. Italics are important.
Waters' script contains some incredibly incisive insight into the art world, as well as classism. However, he can't quite settle on Pecker's feel. At moments, the movie feels sneezy and leery, which is fine, but then Waters tries to get serious, and these conflicting tones butt right against each other. The ending descends so far deeply into camp that Waters' important themes about how most people are similar deep down are lost, in a scene that basically says, everyone is kinky and weird, so who cares? There's little at stake, and little to zero gravitas in the proceedings as a whole. The issues lie within the script itself, as Waters fails to find a concrete conflict. At the same time, Pecker isn't absolutely abysmal, as its sweetness and some of Waters' smart dialogue keeps the film, at the least, entertaining. When it comes to 90's Waters, though, he peaked four years before this film.