THE AISLE SEAT

"One True Thing,"One Good Movie/John Water's "Pecker" Is It Worth Seeing?

by Bryan Powers

G21 Film Reviewer

Event #138: Visual Triggers LAST WEEK's EDITION The Main Event HOME

NEW YORK CITY - Meryl Streep's latest bid for an Oscar is delivered in the role of a heart-of-gold mother dying of cancer while being cared for by her not-so-warm-hearted daughter. Based on the best-selling novel by Anna Quindlen, "One True Thing" drives very near the border of TV movie-of-the-week melodrama. But with Streep behind the wheel, this movie grabs your heart with an emotional grip that is rarely demonstrated by normal TV fare. It is her performance as Kate, a somewhat irritating (because she's so good) housewife, that will make you reach for the tissues.

Playing her detached daughter, Ellen, is Renee Zellweger. This daughter grew up with a closer bond to her professor father than her stay at home mother. Her present career as a ambitious journalist reflects her desire to please her father and distances her further from a mother who, to Ellen, shares little in common with her. Having only seen Zellweger as the giddy single mom in "Jerry McGuire," I wasn't prepared for the accomplished and complex performance she gives here. During the first third of "One True Thing" one wants to slap Zellweger's Ellen for being so cold and self-centered. Fortunately though, Zellweger keeps the character human enough that the audience doesn't totally give up on her.

William Hurt, the father, is perfectly cast. As an actor who is becoming more and more eccentric, Hurt's mysterious ways enable him to keep his father figure an enigma. His moments of love and intimacy with Kate contrast sharply with the business like manner he uses when dealing with his wife's illness. Hurt can be counted on to deliver a complex performance and "One True Thing" gives him the material.

There are only two drawbacks to this otherwise superior piece of movie- making. As directed by Carl Franklin, Karen Croner's script attempts to weave a narrative flashback device into "One True Thing" in an attempt to add an element of suspense and mystery. It's always nice to have those elements present in movie making and since we know the outcome of this story's mother from the get-go, there is little suspense to build on. But to this moviegoer, the scenes in which Franklin cuts from the mother's story and jumps forward to the daughter's storytelling disrupt the emotional drive of the film and add very little in any other respect.

The other shortcoming in "One True Thing" lies in the character of Kate's loving son. If this mother and son share such a tight bond as demonstrated early on in the film, why is he so obviously left out of the story when his mother is near death? This abandonment of a character is distracting. The son's non-involvement is the only thing in "One True Thing" that doesn't ring true.

Grade: A for A lot of tissues will be needed.


John Water's "Pecker" is presently on view to any American who desires to see it. Don't expect much though, this "Pecker" hardly measures up to Water's previous work. Opening at the end of the summer when "Something About Mary" ruled at the box office, "Pecker" makes one long for the days when a Waters film would have made "Mary" blush. Comparing the two, "Mary" makes "Pecker" look like an after-school special.

Edward Furlong stars as Pecker, a photo crazy Baltimore resident who got his nickname from the way he plays with his food, not for any physical trait. Pecker's photographic talents attract the eye of a New York gallery. He soon becomes the toast of Manhattan. So Pecker and his lowlife friends set out for the Big Apple, bound for the inevitable culture-clash between them and the hip, phony New York art scene-ers.

True, some of Pecker's cronies are pretty funny. There's his sugar-addicted little sister, his religious-ranting grandma, and his laundromat-lieutenant girlfriend. The moments of humor provided by these loonies is slight and forgettable. Water's was once the king (or queen) of disgusting humor. His films "Pink Flamingo's," "Polyester," and "Desperate Living" set precedents for bad taste in film comedy. His later films, "Hairspray," "Crybaby," and "Serial Mom," were less gutter and more mainstream but still maintained enough offbeat humor to balance out their sweetness. "Pecker" loses balance and falls to deep into the safe, sweet laughs found in Water's later work. Not that Water's should or could return to his original film-making style. All film- makers should be allowed to grow and take new directions as they see fit. It's just a shame that Waters' latest direction seems to be aimless. Even when not sizing-up "Pecker" to Waters' earlier work, this film still comes up soft.

Grade: C- for competent, yet dissapointing.

+++ The Previous AISLE SEAT +++ The Next AISLE SEAT +++