John Waters: The Recent Stuff

Cry-Baby
The Plot: Set in the fifties, Johnny Depp is a high school rebel who sings a lot, gets put in jail, and then sings some more. And stuff.

From reading reviews on the internets, this seems to be the least liked of Waters's films. I thought it was kinda fun in a ridiculously PG-rated sort of way. It's a musical which gets a bleh from me right away, but Depp and the supporting characters did a good job. And the final scene provides just the right amount of Wha...what the hell? to keep it from going totally flat. Entertaining, but Waters really should have just done Hairspray and called it a day. Fortunately for us all he moved on to...

Serial Mom
The Plot: Kathleen Turner is a wife, homemaker, and mother of two who, while appearing Stepfordian in every way, has a secret, murderous side that becomes all the more suspicious when folks in the neighborhood keep turning up dead.

Oh God, definitely one of my favorites. I would argue that this is Waters's gayest movie, too. You can't get more queer than a crazy Kathleen Turner beating Patty Hearst to death with a phone for wearing white shoes after Labor Day. Turner just takes this movie and fucking runs with it, and it's great to watch. Not too cutesy, not too vile. Perfect, murderous, movie harmony.

Pecker
The plot: Edward Furlong comes from a working class family, takes some pictures, has an annoying girlfriend, becomes famous, and we all learn a lesson about life or something.

Blech. Worst of Waters, no question. Even at a brief eightyish minutes I was bored out of my mind and managed to check my email, Facebook and Myspace multiple times during the movie. There was no Waters edge at all. Nor was it particularly funny or risque. Just a predictable, poor and trashy versus rich and snobby comedy. Ricci was flat. Not a horrible movie altogether, but disappointing fare from a director who we know is capable of much more.

Cecil B. Demented
The plot: Underground terrorist/director Cecil B. Demented and his followers kidnap a shrill, obnoxious actress (who is not supposed to be anything like the real Melanie Griffith AT ALL) and force her to star in their latest film, which is more or less a reckless fuck-you to mainstream cinema.

Maybe it's because I watched this one right after Pecker but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. What a fun movie. Even the presence of Melanie Griffith didn't ruin much. (For the most part.) And Maggie Gyllenhaal is so cute as the Satanic makeup artist. The cast had a very "young, up and coming actors of six years ago" feel (Alicia Witt and Adrian Grenier, much?) but managed to do well anyway. Predictable but fun.

A Dirty Shame
The plot: After a head injury, Tracey Ullman becomes a nymphomaniac and together with her buxom daughter and a band of merry perverts, try to spread their message of sexual liberation throughout conservative Baltimore.

I refrained from watching this one since I saw it last year when it was out in theaters, and really that was enough. I remember being amused, especially during the Hokey Pokey scene, but Knoxville just wasn't that great and Tracey Ullman and Selma Blair (along with all of the assorted sexual deviants) had to carry what was left of the movie. Funny gags, and undoubtedly better than Pecker, but that's about it. Bad ending, too.