During his 26-year career John Waters
has delivered some wonderful cinematic treats – like Ricki Lake and Debbie
Harry sporting skyscraper-high coiffures in Hairspray, Kathleen Turner
murdering the neighbours in Serial Mom, and transvestite Divine snacking
on dog poop in Pink Flamingos. Waters' latest delivery, though, is stillborn.
An attempt to satirise independent
filmmaking , it could and should have been a lot of fun – especially
since Melanie Griffith sends herself up a treat as an A-list Hollywood star. But
the script is about as sharp as a blunt pencil and stabs at scathing comedy go
down like a lead balloon.
 Griffith
is Honey Whitlock, a fabulously glamorous superstar who falls foul of maverick
indie moviemaker Cecil B DeMented (Stephen Dorff overacting wildly). Cecil and
his band of lunatic followers kidnap Honey and force her to be in their underground
film as they launch a terrorist assault on the mainstream.
Cue one crap scene after another and a jaw-droppingly stupid finale in a drive-in.
Waters' favourite guest star Ricki Lake makes another cameo appearance here, but
she looks totally bemused. The same can be said for most of us in the audience.
The film isn't big, it isn't clever and it doesn't make much sense.
Since John
has made some great films in the past, this is just a glitch on an otherwise impressive
CV – but it's a glitch with all the consistency of the dogshit Divine scooped
up in the far superior Pink Flamingos.
— Simon Button 06.12.00
Check Scoot
to find out where the film's showing.
Click here
for the official Cecil B Demented site.
Need more movies? Get them all at the Internet
Movie Database.
|
