PECKER

• Starring Edward Furlong and Christina Ricci
• Directed by John Waters
• Rated R, with profanity and nudity; running time 87 minutes
• With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a 8

By Marshall Fine
Gannett Suburban Newspapers

(Sept. 25, 1998) -- John Waters' Pecker is hilarious good fun, the sweetest slice of subversion yet from the cinema's grand master of bad taste.

In his latest satire, Waters contrasts the pretensions of the New York City art world with the quirky realities of working-class life in Baltimore.

The central character is Pecker, an amiable 18-year-old (Edward Furlong) who shoots candid photos of his friends and neighbors when he's not flipping hamburgers at a local sandwich shop. Typical of the movie's teasing tone, Waters gives his lead character a salacious name but justifies it with an innocuous explanation: Everyone calls him Pecker because he pecks at his food like a bird.

Pecker's favorite photo subjects include:

• Mom (Mary Kay Place), who likes to dispense fashion advice to the homeless out of her thrift shop.

• His grandmother (Jean Schertler), who converses with her special "speaking" statue of the Virgin Mary.

• Older sister Tina (Martha Plimpton), the emcee for a male-stripper show at a local gay bar.

• Younger sister Chrissy (Lauren Hulsey), a hyperactive youngster who wolfs down one snack after another to maintain her constant sugar high.

• His good friend Matt (Brendan Sexton III), a likable ne'er-do-well who elevates shoplifting to an art form.

• And especially Shelley (Christina Ricci), Pecker's girlfriend and muse. She diligently runs a local Laundromat, where she's known as the Baltimore Stain Queen.

But it all becomes too much for the naive Pecker and his oddball collection of friends and family.

Pecker offers the usual array of pop-culture references and bad-taste celebrations found in a Waters film. But it's easily the director's most accessible, entertaining work since Hairspray.

In a season when There's Something About Mary rubs our faces in sick humor, Waters shows that you can get much more mileage by simply tickling the noses of viewers.

Waters, the delightfully goofy Furlong and the capable supporting cast wonderfully sugarcoat the film's sure-fire sedition.

But rest assured: Pecker still contains enough irreverence to give a prude palpitations.