Pecker (film)

Infobox Film
name = Pecker


caption = Promotional poster for the US theatrical release of "Pecker"
writer = John Waters
starring = Edward Furlong
Christina Ricci
director = John Waters
producer = John Fiedler
Mark A. Baker
distributor = Fine Line Features
released = September 16, 1998
runtime = 87 min.
country = United States
language = English
budget = $6,500,000
imdb_id = 0126604

Pecker is a 1998 film directed by John Waters and starring Edward Furlong and Christina Ricci. It was filmed and set in Baltimore's 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 a 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 (Edward Furlong), 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 (Lili Taylor). Pecker's pictures — grainy, out-of-focus studies of unglamorous subjects — are far from professional, 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. Pecker finds that his best friend Matt (Brendan Sexton III) can't even shoplift anymore now that Pecker's photographs have increased his profile. Shelley (Christina Ricci), Pecker's obsessive girlfriend who runs a laundromat, seems especially distressed when the press dub her a "stain goddess" and mistakes 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 (Jean Schertler) 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 (Martha Plimpton), 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 his family's and friends' lives, 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.)

Like many of Waters' films, "Pecker" satirizes fame, the art and fashion worlds, and what constitutes "good taste," but in a much less shrill and strident way than Waters' earlier "Pink Flamingos" (1972) and "Female Trouble" (1974).

Cast

*Edward Furlong as Pecker
*Christina Ricci as Shelley
*Bess Armstrong as Dr. Klompus
*Mark Joy as Jimmy
*Mary Kay Place as Joyce
*Martha Plimpton as Tina
*Brendan Sexton III as Matt
*Lauren Hulsey as Little Chrissy
*Mink Stole as Precinct Captain
*Lili Taylor as Rorey Wheeler
*Patricia Hearst as Lynn Wentworth
*Jean Schertler as Memama
*Channing Wilroy as Wise Guy Neighbor

ee also

*Pecker (soundtrack)

External links

*imdb title|id=0126604|title=Pecker