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Pecker
Fine Line Features

Pecker reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 66 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.0 out of 10
based on 24 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 2 votes
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MPAA RATING: R for sexuality, graphic nudity, language and brief drug use

Starring Edward Furlong, Christina Ricci, Bess Armstrong, Mark Joy, Mary Kay Place, Martha Plimpton, Lili Taylor, and Patricia Hearst

A Baltimore sandwich shop employee becomes an overnight sensation when photographs he's taken of his weird family become the latest rage in the art world.  (Warner Home Video)


GENRE(S): Comedy  
WRITTEN BY: John Waters  
DIRECTED BY: John Waters  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: February 23, 1999 
Video: July 20, 1999 
Theatrical: September 25, 1998 
RUNNING TIME: 87 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

NBR Award, Best Supporting Actress (Ricci), 1998 National Board of Review

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Waters builds to a didactic message that he underlines with Disney-esque dream dust (in various colors), as if to protect his sincerity with the disclaimer of self-mockery.
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90
Dallas Observer Andy Klein
Pecker is a satire, but an incredibly good-natured one, which is not quite the contradiction in terms it might seem.
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90
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Think of writer-director Waters as the Frank Capra of an alternate universe and this film as his genially twisted version of "It's a Wonderful Life," and you'll begin to understand.
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80
The New Yorker Ken Marks
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.
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80
Film Threat Ron Wells
Waters brilliantly skewers the pretensions of the New York art world and culture, and uses real people from that world in the process.
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80
Film Threat J.D. LaFrance
Sure, it's lighthearted fare, but that doesn't make it any less of a good film.
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80
Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Frequently funny, just as frequently repulsive, it's filmed in Waters's trademark deadpan style that some adore and some loathe.
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80
The New York Times Elvis Mitchell
Finding hilarity in John Waters's latest movie title is the basic pre requisite for enjoying the goofy ingenuity of his new film.
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80
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
It's also sweet, sentimental, rather funny and, as John Waters films go, surprisingly gentle.
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80
The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
It's a winning comedy, though some of Pecker's jokes inspire silence and some scenes are awkwardly staged.
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75
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
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.
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70
Slate David Edelstein
Pecker is a breezy, agreeable picture--a charmer, thumbs-up, three stars--but there's something disappointing about a John Waters film that's so evenhanded and all-embracing, even if its sunniness is "ironic."
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70
Village Voice J. Hoberman
If scandal, sleaze, and celebrity worship are our national religion, then John Waters is an American prophet.
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67
Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
As a whole, Pecker is enjoyable but also feels scattered and transitory.
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60
Variety Emanuel Levy
A pleasant but ephemeral spoof that may disappoint Waters' hard-core fans while not recruiting many new devotees.
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60
Empire Angie Errigo
His unique vision as a committed artist and unrepentantly crude joker makes this sweet, disarming, intelligent fun.
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50
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
We've come a long way from the filthiest people in the world: Who knew Waters could be so bland?
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50
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Waters follows these characters through their 15 minutes of fame without ever churning up very much interest in them.
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50
ReelViews James Berardinelli
The content is actually pretty bland -- it's not incisive, it's not daring, it's not uproarious, and it's not very good.
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50
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack
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.
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50
San Francisco Examiner Edvins Beitiks
It starts out well and winds up no worse than most of the stuff that comes out of Hollywood.
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40
LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
It's no doubt rude, and perhaps irrelevant, to point out that John Waters still doesn't know how to make a movie.
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25
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
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.
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25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Ray Conlogue
It's a turning-the-tables story a five-year-old could appreciate -- except for the confusing crowd scenes and haphazard camera work. Technically speaking, Waters' skills haven't improved much over the years.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Steve M. gave it a7:
I don't know why everyone's saying it's gross or bothersome. There is really nothing gross about the movie. If I hadn't seen that he directed it from the credits I would have never known. If you want to see a gross Waters film check out Pink Flamingos. That's a goodie. Pecker was alright, pretty entertaining.

Pink Mulroneycakes gave it a7:
It's John Waters. You already know whether you want to see it. As Waters' films go, eh, it's a pretty good one. It's probably the last one he's made that's easy to digest - ie not loud and obnoxious like Cecil B. DeMented and not an extended pantomimic injoke like A Dirty Shame. Gotta respect Waters, but be selective. Oh my god, they're remaking Hairspray. Review over, more calls to make.

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