a Review of "Pecker"

“Confessions of a Film Junkie”: A Review of “Pecker”

By: Brian Cotnoir

                A truly great comedy is the John Waters film “Pecker”.  “Pecker” tells the story of a young photographer known to everyone in town as “Pecker”.  Pecker wanders through his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland snapping photographs of people around town.  Pecker’s photographs eventually capture the eye of a New York art dealer named Rorey Wheeler.  Rorey turns Pecker into a famous artist in New York and his photographs become hot items among New York’s elite.  However, upon returning home to Baltimore with his new found celebrity takes a toll on Pecker, his family, and everyone around him.  Pecker must make the choice of giving up his celebrity status or risk losing the ones closest to him.                               

           One thing that makes “Pecker” a truly great film is the cast.  Edward Furlong’s portrayal as the lovable young character Pecker is just superb.  Furlong’s performance is very believable; he definitely gives off that “small-town boy-having-a-hard-time-adjusting-to-his-new-fame-and-fortune” vibe.  The only other really big name star in this film is Christina Ricci, who plays Pecker’s girlfriend, Shelley.  Shelley manages a Laundromat in Baltimore and is very supportive of Pecker’s photography until his fame and Rorey start coming between them.  Her character is tough and has a “you-don’t-want-to-mess-with-me” attitude.                                                                                                                                                                          

         As for the rest of the cast they’re just simply fantastic.  Pecker’s father runs a bar in town, that’s losing all of its business to a strip club down the street and his mother manages a thrift store where she tries to help those less fortunate find a “new look”.  Pecker has two siblings; an older sister, Tina, who works as a bartender at a gay bar called “The Fudge Palace” and a younger sister, called “Little Chrissy”, who has a severe addiction to candy and sugar products.  Pecker’s grandmother is a devout Catholic who talks to a statue of the Virgin Mary, which she sometimes uses as a ventriloquist-dummy.  Finally, there’s his best friend, Matt, who is a “professional thief” and makes his living stealing things from stores around town, until Pecker’s photographs expose him and he is forced to get a real job.                                             

         After watching “Pecker” you’re first impulse should be to grab your camera and go around your neighborhood snapping photographs of all the people you know, and here’s little trivia fact for all you film aficionados out there is that the music for “Pecker” was done by Stewart Copeland of “The Police”.  If I had to some up Pecker in one sentence I’d say its like “Little Miss Sunshine” meets “My Own Private Idaho”.   What else can I say other than, I really, really like this film and think director John Waters did a phenomenal job making it.