Pecker (film)

Pecker
220px Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Waters
Produced by	John Fielder Mark Tarlov Mark Ordesky Pat Moran
Written by	John Waters
Starring	Edward Furlong Christina Ricci Lili Taylor Mary Kay Place Martha Plimpton Brendan Sexton III Bess Armstrong
Music by	Stewart Copeland
Cinematography	Robert M. Stevens
Edited by	Janice Hampton
Production company	Polar Entertainment
Distributed by	Fine Line Features
Release dates	September 25, 1998 (1998-09-25)
Running time	86 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$6 million
Box office	$2,281,761

Pecker is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by John Waters and starring Edward Furlong and Christina Ricci. Like all Waters' films, it was filmed and set in Baltimore; this film was set in the Hampden neighborhood.

The film examines the rise to fame and potential fortune of a budding photographer.

Plot

Set in a Baltimore neighborhood known for having the thickest local accent, Pecker tells the story of an unassuming 18-year-old who works in a sandwich shop and takes photos of his loving but peculiar family and friends on the side. Pecker, so named for his childhood habit of "pecking" at his food, stumbles into fame when his work is "discovered" by a savvy New York art dealer, Rorey Wheeler. Pecker's pictures, taken with a cheap Canon Canonet 28, are grainy, out-of-focus studies of unglamorous subjects, but they strike a chord with New York art collectors.

Unfortunately, instant over-exposure has its downside. Rorey's efforts to turn Pecker into an art sensation threaten to ruin the low-key lifestyle that was his inspiration. He abandons his trusty old rangefinder camera for a new, full-featured Nikon N50. Pecker finds that his best friend, Matt, can't shoplift anymore now that Pecker's photographs have increased his profile. Shelley, Pecker's obsessive girlfriend who runs a laundromat, seems especially distressed when the press dub her a "stain goddess" and mistake her good-natured "pin-up" poses for pornographic come-ons.

When his family is dubbed "culturally challenged" by an overzealous critic, they begin to feel the uncomfortable glare of stardom. Pecker's mother (Mary Kay Place) is no longer free to dispense fashion tips to the homeless clientele at her thrift shop. Pecker's grandmother, Memama, endures public ridicule when her experience with a talking statue of the Virgin Mary is exposed on the cover of a national art magazine. Tina, Pecker's fag hag older sister, is fired from her job emceeing go-go dancing at a gay bar because Pecker's edgy photographs chronicle the sex practices of the club's patrons. Even Little Chrissy, his six-year-old sister, feels the pressure of celebrity when her eating disorder is exposed, bringing unwanted attention from nosy child welfare agencies (she's mistakenly diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and prescribed Ritalin.)

After Pecker's new-found fame disrupts the lives of his family and friends, Pecker turns the tables on the art world by refusing to participate in a scheduled show at the Whitney Museum of Art. Instead, he forces New York art collectors to come to Baltimore to see his latest photographs, which portray the same people who disparaged his family in an unflattering light (one photo shows Patricia Hearst adjusting her breasts in a mirror.)

Pecker is then asked what he plans to do next. He replies that he would like to direct a film.

Cast

• Edward Furlong as Pecker
• Christina Ricci as Shelley
• Lili Taylor as Rorey Wheeler
• Mary Kay Place as Joy
• Martha Plimpton as Tina
• Brendan Sexton III as Matt
• Bess Armstrong as Dr. Klompus
• Lauren Hulsey as Little Chrissy
• Mark Joy as Jimmy
• Mink Stole as Precinct captain
• Patricia Hearst as Lynn Wentworth
• Jean Schertler as Memama
• Alan J. Wendl as Mr. Nellbox
• Greg Gorman as himself
• Cindy Sherman as herself
• Mary Vivian Pearce as Homophobic lady
• Anthony Roger as Billy Heckman/Death Row Dave
• Doug Roberts as Mr. Heckman
• Patsy Grady Adams as Mrs. Heckman
• Susan Greenhill as voice of Miraculous Virgin Mary
• John Waters (uncredited) as Pervert on phone

Reception

Critical reaction to Pecker was mixed, but tended toward the positive. Describing it as "John Waters' first stab at making a mainstream movie," Edvins Beitiks' review in the San Francisco Examiner said it "starts out well and winds up no worse than most of the stuff that comes out of Hollywood". In his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert noted a "tension between the gentler new Waters and his anarchic past. In the scenes in the male strip bar, for example, we keep waiting for Waters to break loose and shock us, and he never does, except with a few awkward language choices. The miraculous statue of Mary could have provided comic possibilities, but doesn't." Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that Pecker is "never truly funny, but it's an amusing novelty, gaining strength from smart characterizations and sly cogency about the way people are exploited under the limelight of celebrity."

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released on September 22, 1998 by New Line Records.

1. "Happy-Go-Lucky Me" - Paul Evans
2. "The Love Chase" - Stewart Copeland
3. "I'm a Nut" - Leroy Pullins
4. "Memamam" - Stewart Copeland
5. "Uh! Oh! (Part 1)" - The Nutty Squirrels
6. "Straight Boys" - Vicky Randle and Stewart Copeland
7. "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter" - Billy Williams
8. "In the Mood" - Henhouse Five Plus Too (Ray Stevens)
9. "Back to Hampden/Sneaky Shelly" - Stewart Copeland
10. "Baltimore, You're Home to Me" - Dave Hardin
11. "Thrift Shop Fashion Shoot" - Stewart Copeland
12. "Don't Drop the Soap (For Anyone Else But Me)" - Stan Ridgway and Stewart Copeland
13. "New York Montage" - Stewart Copeland
14. "Swamp Thing" - The Grid
15. "Woo-Hoo" - The Rock-A-Teens

External links

• Pecker at IMDb
• Pecker at Box Office Mojo
• Pecker at Rotten Tomatoes
• Pecker at Metacritic