Pecker MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +3 Content: -2

18-year-old Pecker (Edward Furlong) spends his time photographing his quirky neighbors, family and strangers in Baltimore, Maryland. His mom (Mary Kay Place) runs a thrift shop for the homeless, Tina, his older sister (Martha Plimpton), is a bartender in a gay bar featuring male strippers, and his slightly daffy grandmother (Jean Schertler) sells barbecue sandwiches in the front yard. Pecker becomes a celebrity overnight when a New York art dealer discovers him while passing through Baltimore. Its not long before Pecker, his family and girlfriend Shelley (Christina Ricci) are being wined and dined in New York while his photos are exhibited in an exclusive art gallery. But fame has its problems. Peckers friends and family members portrayed in the photos become the target of the art worlds cruel jokes, and Peckers life becomes a nightmare. The eccentric, exaggerated characters are hilarious and shocking, which will appeal to young adults attracted to shocking and crude humor like that found in the recent box office hit Theres Something About Mary.

Some of the most offensive scenes take place in the gay bar. Men gyrating in thong underwear while gay patrons ogle them and try to fondle them are shown several times. Tina introduces each stripper with suggestive rhymes and makes crude remarks to distinguished patrons at the art gallery. In another bar, lesbians strip for a heterosexual audience and lewd remarks are exchanged between the performers and the audience during their performance. One woman removes everything and a closeup of full female frontal nudity becomes one of Peckers best selling photographs. He also takes pictures of the male strippers in disgusting positions and rats having sex on a pile of garbage. The films one sex scene is between Pecker and Shelley, fully clothed, in a voting booth with graphic motions. Peckers best friend, Matt (Brendan Sexton III), delights in shoplifting. The grandmother has a cheap replica of the Madonna which she claims talks, but the old woman is obviously mouthing the words. Foul language includes many obscenities and several regular profanities, plus much explicit sexual talk. Pick a better movie than PECKER for you and your family.

Preview Reviewer: Mary Draughon
Distributor: Fine Line Features, 888 7th Ave. 20th Flr., NY, NY 10106