Pecker

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Film Threat J.D. LaFrance

Sure, it's lighthearted fare, but that doesn't make it any less of a good film.

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.

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.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

It's also sweet, sentimental, rather funny and, as John Waters films go, surprisingly gentle.

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.

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.

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."

Village Voice J. Hoberman

If scandal, sleaze, and celebrity worship are our national religion, then John Waters is an American prophet.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

As a whole, Pecker is enjoyable but also feels scattered and transitory.

Variety Emanuel Levy

A pleasant but ephemeral spoof that may disappoint Waters' hard-core fans while not recruiting many new devotees.

Empire Angie Errigo

His unique vision as a committed artist and unrepentantly crude joker makes this sweet, disarming, intelligent fun.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

We've come a long way from the filthiest people in the world: Who knew Waters could be so bland?

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Waters follows these characters through their 15 minutes of fame without ever churning up very much interest in them.

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.

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.

San Francisco Examiner Edvins Beitiks

It starts out well and winds up no worse than most of the stuff that comes out of Hollywood.

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.

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.

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.