The 'Guilty Pleasures' genre of film is one genre that is often misunderstood. They are not meant to be works of art and their story lines are often one dimensional with obvious morals. However, they are easy to follow and are generally fun which is great if you have had a busy week at work. Pecker is certainly one of these films.
The film tells the story of Pecker (Edward Furlong) who is an amateur photographer who constantly takes pictures of his everyday life in Baltimore. He leads a simple life working in a fast food joint and dates Shelley (played by the fantastic Christina Ricci) who runs a laundry. His family are full of odd balls, including his mum, who works in a second hand clothes shop, his older sister, a waitress in a gay go-go dancer bar, and his younger sister, a girl with an obsession for sugary food.
When Pecker displays his pictures in his work place, a New York art collector offers him the opportunity to have his very own display, which he takes up. He becomes an instant hit. It is not until later he realises his success is due to New York yuppies see his every day life as comical and, in a way, look down on him and his family. As he becomes more and more famous, he starts to see that when his local community starts to disown him for making them a mockery. It is not until the end that Pecker gets to turn the tables.
Although this film is light hearted, it does raise the obvious question of whether the family were exploited? I do not think they were. It just reminded me of an American version of a Mike Leigh film but in photography. Photography, like film, is a form of voyeurism and it merely reflects what the artist sees.
One of the main reasons I decided to watch this film was that I love Christina Ricci. I first fell in love with her in the excellent The Opposite of Sex and since then, I love watching her, regardless of the quality of film. I would almost say she is almost as good as Michelle Williams. In this, she outplays Furlong, but that is probably because his character was more happy-go-lucky and hers had more depth. The rest of the cast had seem to have all come from the excellent TV show, My So-Called Life, which was a treat in itself!
Of course, this film had its faults and, at times, was a bit too silly. But overall, this was a fun piece of cinema that will certainly be on my guilty pleasures list! A great film by John Waters and is much better than his more famous Hairspray!
3.5/5 - A definition of a guilty pleasure!
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