Product Details

• Actors: Bess Armstrong, Mo Fischer, Edward Furlong, Patricia Hearst, Lauren Hulsey
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: New Line Home Video
• VHS Release Date: July 20, 1999
• Run Time: 86 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0780625005
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,595 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Pecker (so named, at least according to his grandmother, because he always pecks at his food) loves to use the camera to capture his fellow Baltimore residents living their daily lives. Of course, since this is a John Waters movie, those daily lives include visits to strip bars, shoplifting, and various other quirky, and frequently hilarious, human activities. When Pecker's makeshift photo exhibit comes to the attention of a New York art agent (Lili Taylor), Pecker becomes the latest sensation. Unlike the hero in most sudden-fame stories, however, Pecker, as played by Edward Furlong, isn't exactly an innocent; rather, he takes in the world with his eyes, and his mind, wide open. So instead of suffering a precipitous fall, Pecker eventually turns the tables on his more worldly New York peers.

While not as outrageous as early Waters features such as Female Trouble and Pink Flamingos, Pecker still has something to offend just about everyone. But those who take the offenses to heart would be missing out on what amounts to a sweet-natured farce. The movie is not so much a pointed satire as a gentle teasing of the art world and its pretensions. The all-embracing world of John Waters allows for lovable freaks from the big city, too.

The movie sags a bit when it settles into its plot; it can't sustain the comic inspiration reached in the opening scenes of Pecker's encounters with Baltimore's misfits. But running gags about a sugar-addicted child and a ventriloquist-doll Virgin Mary are hilarious. What ultimately makes the movie such a pleasure, though, is Waters's genuine fondness for all of his characters. Aided by a charming cast, including Christina Ricci and Waters regulars Mink Stole and Patty Hearst, Waters has created a surprisingly touching ode to human eccentricity. --Chris Neman

From The New Yorker
In this John Waters parable, Baltimore is a city where everyone is straightforward and true, and where all eccentricities are embraced, creating a funny, freakish utopia. Observing it all from the inside is amateur photographer Pecker (Edward Furlong), whose pictures get noticed by a New York art dealer (Lili Taylor), but the merest whiff of big-city commercialism and irony is enough to threaten the well-being of Pecker's community. Waters gets uniformly bright performances from the large cast-especially Christina Ricci as Pecker's girlfriend and Mary Kay Place as his mother-and he succeeds in composing yet another twisted love letter to his home town. -Ken Marks
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars not to be missed commentary by John Waters, October 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pecker (DVD)

If you're not a John Waters fan already, you probably won't even be reading this. I won't even comment on the film Pecker, since the critics and other viewers have done a pretty thorough job of that, but I will comment on John Water's running commentary, which is almost as good as the film itself. Even if you have already seen Pecker in a theatre, buy the DVD to hear John's commentary. He is so smart and funny and simply lovable, and he accepts everything and everyone with a wide-open heart. I watch every commentary that is included on DVDs, and without doubt, John Water's is one of the best. After hearing this wonderful commentary, you will love the movie even more!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charm City - Trade Capital of the World!, May 20, 2005

By	G P Padillo "paolo" (Portland, ME United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Pecker (DVD)

From Charm City comes another Waters charmer - another minor masterpiece!

From start to finish Pecker is a delight and Waters infuses his script with enough loveable oddball characters to populate an entire city. Whether it's Christina Ricci's obsessive compulsive wreck of a laundress, the sugar addict Little Chrissy, eternally hopeful Mom, sleaze loving Tina or best of all Memama, who's room contains a shrine to the Virgin Mary - and a statute of the Virgin that shrieks "Full of grace! Full of Grace!" there is always someone to watch and enjoy.

Edward Furlong is all wide-eyed innocence - even when he's secretly photographing bottomless lesbian lap dancers at the and male strippers at a gay bar with the unfortunately hilarious name of "The Fudge Palace." Big sister, Tina offers a rip-roaring good time from Martha Plimpton, and Brendan Sexton III is a delight as Pecker's betrayed best friend. Throw in Mary Kay Place (!), Patty Hearst, Mink Stole, Lili Taylor, Bess Armstrong - and others - and you've got an ensemble that's having one helluva good time on screen!

The jumping off point for Waters here is the snobbism and cultural elitism of Manhattan versus the purity and earnestness of Baltimore "Trade Capital of the World." The New York art scene is an easy target and often lampooned but Waters brings his own unique sick twists and takes us along for a ride full of belly laughs, uncomfortable truths in perhaps his sweetest tribute to Baltimore yet.

There's just enough objectionable material to make the "typical American" uncomfortable - and I wouldn't want it any other way!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ha, ha, ha, ha-happy go lucky me!, May 13, 2003

By	B-MAN "B" (Earth, occasionally. Until I get bored.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pecker (DVD)

John Waters' Pecker is now available as part of the double DVD set with Hairspray so I recommend making it part of your collection. Why this set is called John Waters: Collection #1 is a little odd since these two are his later "mainstream" films and not the trashy no budget stuff starring Divine that put Waters on the map. Still, Pink Flamingos and others are available in other collections on DVD so who cares what number they are! Anyway, Eddie Furlong plays Pecker, a young man who loves taking pictures of everything including all of his unique friends and family as well as the scenery of Baltimore. After holding a small exhibit of his photos in the sandwich shop he works in an art promoter from NY sees his photo of a stripper's pubic hair and wants to put on an exhibit of Pecker's work in NY. Pecker becomes the hottest art photographer in NY, but at the expence of his family and friends. He decides to turn it all around and give the NY art crowd a taste of their own medicine. The film, like most of Waters' work is filled with colorful and strange characters. First, there's Pecker's family: His Dad runs a local pub right across the street from a lesbian strip club, his sister is the bartender/MC of a gay nightclub featuring male dancers, his Mom runs the local thrift shop and helps the homeless with new outfits ("Don't be afraid of fashion"), his other sister, Little Chrissy, is addicted to sugar, and his Grandma or Mi Mama runs a pit beef stand and has a doll of Mary, Mother of God, who she speaks through (Full of Grace!). Then there is Shelly (Christina Ricci), Pecker's girlfriend who runs the local laundromat and is so obsessed with cleanliness and laundromat policies that she is nicknamed the "stain goddess". Pecker also has a best friend, Matt, who is the best thief in town. One of the funniest scenes is where Pecker and Matt run through a grocery store and Pecker photographs Matt placing particular items into the carts of unsuspecting shoppers. I love the weight lifter who got the Preparation H - "There is nothing wrong with my butt!". Pecker is a lot of fun and even though its rated R, in a strange way its a family film with a good message: You don't have to be an a-hole to be talented and you also don't have to go to NY...you can stay right in Baltimore! The soundtrack is another plus...lots of hilarious and catchy songs. Pecker is a winner! Hey, thats sounds dirty!