Pecker

1998 Comedy

John Waters wrote and directed this $6.5 million satire on the Manhattan art world, a rags-to-riches comedy about 18-year-old amateur photographer Pecker (so named because he pecks at his food). Pecker (Edward Furlong) is a blue-collar kid who works in a Baltimore sandwich shop and takes snapshots of family, friends, and customers. His mom, Joyce (Mary Kay Place) runs a thrift shop where she offers fashion advice to the homeless, while sis Tina (Martha Plimpton) recruits go-go boys to dance at the local Fudge Palace. Pecker's younger sister, Little Chrissy (Lauren Hulsey), has a sugar addiction, and his grandmother, Memama (Jean Schertler), the "pit beef" queen of Baltimore, conducts prayer meetings with her talking statue of Mary. After hip Manhattan art dealer Rorey Wheeler (Lili Taylor) becomes fascinated with Pecker's photos, a big exhibition is in the offing, followed by overnight fame as the young man becomes the new darling of the New York art scene. Soon Pecker discovers that fame has its price. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. more..

Director: John Waters

Starring: Edward Furlong, Christina Ricci, Mary Kay Place, Martha Plimpton

 24 Reviews  2 Awards

Reviews

  • Waters fills the movie with his usual touches of outrageously bad taste, but beneath the sophomoric shocks his story has a serious message about self-absorbed artists who care more about their own careers than the privacy of the people around them.

    David Sterritt - Christian Science Monitor

    26 April 2013

  • His unique vision as a committed artist and unrepentantly crude joker makes this sweet, disarming, intelligent fun.

    Angie Errigo - Empire

    26 April 2013

  • Waters follows these characters through their 15 minutes of fame without ever churning up very much interest in them.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    26 April 2013

  • The film 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.

    Peter Stack - The San Francisco Chronicle

    26 April 2013

  • Watching Pecker, his rickety new comedy about a teenage Baltimore shutterbug, it becomes clear that Waters has grown color-blind to his own sleazo-shock aesthetic.

    Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

    26 April 2013

Awards

  • Best Supporting Actress

    Florida Film Critics Circle Awards (1999)

  • Best Feature

    Gijón International Film Festival (1998)

     

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