Polyester
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Movie Reviews of Polyester
Movie Review: Transitional Camp Fest
Summary: 5 Stars
John Waters was indie before it was cool. He took a bunch of his friends, shot a movie on a shoestring budget, and made some hilarious classics. They are so bad they're good (hence the campiness), and inspire future generations of film makers, actors, and artists to in fact, be all that they can be in the relm of mediocrity. Ha ha ha ...
Polyester was the now famous turning point moment for John Waters and the rest of the original DreamLander cast and crew. It segwayed him and the rest into mainstream acceptance. Here we see the trials and tribulations of an everyday housewife, Francine Fishpaw, trying to keep her dysfunctional family together. Her husband is cheating while pulling in a successful living in the downtown pornographic theater. Her daughter, LuLu, is a wild child out of control who dances ludly for the boys at lunch period and cavorts with bad boy BoBo (Stiv Bators from The Dead Boys). Her son Dexter is a foot fetishist who criminally stomps on women's feet in between huffing their household cleaning products. It's all falling apart after her husband leaves, her son is arrested, and LuLu goes off to a home for unwed mothers. Further hilarity ensues when Francine meets Tod, a handsome ladies man, who seems to sweep her off her feet to take her away from all the troubles. He is actually plotting with her shrewish mother to overthrow Francine just when things are starting to look up for her. But Francine, ever the brave soul, triumphs in the end.
This was a hilarious story, all the characters of John Waters movies make appearances and preform at their best. There was even an added bonus of Smelly Vision, when Scratch N' Sniff stickers had suddenly burst onto the scene. There is a sadness about it now, not that anyone knew when it was made. Though John Waters would go on to make his most successful commercial venture to date, Hairspray, after this movie, this would end up being the first generation DreamLander ending. Edith Massey, the adorable Cuddles, would die shortly after due to complications from diabetes. Cookie Mueller, though she has only a brief appearance on the faux news as a stomper victim, died of AIDS. Stiv Bators, though far less known as an actor and more as a punk rock pioneer, died following a car accident in Paris, France. And Divine, the star of stars of all John Waters movies, would die of a massive heart attack in his sleep a few years later. This would mark their last hurrah. The movies following, while they have been just as many hits as they were misses, have a distinctly different flavor to them even though the original cast continues to make appearences in them. It was the end of an era, but what an era it was.
Movie Review: A hillarious mockery of Americana!
Summary: 5 Stars
John Waters is written all over the place in this one! Everything about suburban middle class Americana is lampooned in Polyester! Divine's mother sums up the whole thesis of this movie when she utters the epitome of the American Dream...-"Free, White, Rich and Happy!"
Divine plays Francine Fishpaw, a 30'ish housewife trying HIr best to live the American Dream. Except that HIr husband is a fat loudmouth pornographer! And HIr son is a glue sniffing foot fetishist! And HIr daughter is a punk whore who goes out with the slimiest guy in town! And HIr mother is a gold digging witch! And HIr dog hangs itself on the refrigerator! And HIr best friend is the deliciously ugly Edith Massey! And HIr new lover, Todd Tomorrow, (Tab Hunter) is in cahoots with HIr mother to inherit the house and Divine's American Dream!
My favorite scene is where Divine (Francine Fishpaw) goes to her first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting! The attendees mercilessly taunt and coach her to say the "Magic Words"---"I'm Francine Fishpaw! And I am an alcohoooooolic!" and they all cheer!
As if the theme and plot isn't zany enough for you, John Waters adds the spectacle of "ODORAMA" to the movie. At predictable times in the film a number flashes, to have you scratch and sniff the corrosponding number on you "odorama" card to enjoy, for the first time, SMELLEVISION! Smell all the delightful smells of Divine's life, from old moldy sneakers, to farts, to gasoline!
This is perhaps the only John Waters movie you can enjoy with your parents, providing your parents are from the Manson Family!
Movie Review: Answers an important question
Summary: 5 Stars
...which is, "could John Waters top Pink Flamingos?". Son of a gun, he did! "Pink Flamingos" was a visual acid test for modern film, designed to see how far an audience could be pushed before they left the theater. That is a noble experiment in and for itself, but Waters is up to something quite different here. John is obviously learning to be a satirist here, and let's face it, the guy learns quick. Everyone is dimly aware that life is ugly; few are aware that their life is no exception. All John Waters has to do is show you, and he has a film. And really, he's not making fun of you, he loves you and your freakish failure. That's the thing people miss, I think: he believes Francine Fishpaw is a hero. To try and be nice in an America gone completely mad is not easy- a place where your son is huffing amyl, your daughter is an incurable horn-dog, your husband is a sleazeball, and your mother is out to kill you if you'll just let her in the door enough times. That might have been your life in the 80s. And if it was, this was a great big Hallmark sympathy card to you from John. He wants to say that he is sorry, and that doesn't mean he wants to apologize. He is simply sorry it had to happen that way. There's no amount of Renuzit in the universe that will wash the stink out of the air. But there's a happy ending! It may involve strangling someone with macrame and your mom being backed over by a car, but, isn't that how you really wanted the whole mess to end in your dream of dreams?Movie Review: Polyester
Summary: 5 Stars
This was the first film by John Waters that had a bigger budget and release as well as a bigger cast including Tab Hunter and Stiv Bators, Debbie Harry writes and even sings some of the soundtrack for the movie. John Waters earlier films are fascinatingly vile and very low budget but i wouldnt have them any other way..they are perfect the way they are ..but he did progress and this film shows that...it is absolutely hilarious and still has his sick humour all over...with the Odorama card included with the film so you can smell along with the characters...and oh what characters!! Divine plays Francine Fishpaw a bored and overweight housewife unhappy with her family life...her husband owns a porno theatre and the neighborhood women hate her and her family...she just wants a normal family life in her French Provencial home...her children are delinquents....a daughter named LuLu that is failing school and a habitual and liar and is sexually out of control and a son that is addicted to drugs and has a foot fetish and is attacking women and stomping on there feet!! Her mother is a money hungry ruthless woman out to take what she can get from her daughter and her best friend is a retarded ex cleaning woman who inherited a large amount of money...this all culminates in a series of events that you can only see to believe!!! One of John Waters best films ever!!! YOU MUST SEE IT!Movie Review: Excellent, Mr. Waters
Summary: 5 Stars
I love camp, its THE aesthetic for me. And this film is Douglas Sirk on acid. Not as purely absurd or sleazy as John Waters' early trash art, but I think thats the film's grace. Its his first tight, mainstream satire of American cultural illnesses. The first half of the film really makes art out of the depressing Hell that innocent Divine must wade through. It lets up for awhile, and the second half isn't as strong, but its not an unbalanced film or anything. Its great seeing Divine carry a film as a somewhat normal protagonist and flex his acting and amazing presence. I really commend Waters for the stylized direction and soundtrack that brings the film to life, moving away from his previous low-budget cinema verite and oddball pop selections (that we still love so much). If you enjoy 50s melodramas, punk rock, absurdist satires and Odorama, you'll find this is one of John's best.