Cecil B. Demented

I haven't seen enough John Waters movies to make a comparison to this one, so I can't tell if this was his most impressive work or not. But impressive, it is. I can see that Waters has a keen eye for satire. He does a fine job at mocking both underground and mainstream cinema, without being too exaggerated. He never goes over the top. Some of the scenes may be a little less than satisfying, the comedy may sag at times and there are very few actual "laugh out loud" gags--but at least Waters doesn't overdo the comedy to the point where it's sickening. Sure, he has a quirky sense of style that doesn't have a worldwide appeal. There is a scene in the movie involving a porn star and a gerbil (use your imagination). However, what Waters has is edge with taste. None of this mindless, gross-out crap we often spot in recent years; his stuff has intelligence.

What's great about this movie is its sense of irony. Stephen Dorff is perfectly cast as the emotionless, soul-less cult director Cecil B. Demented. The great thing about his performance--and Waters mentions this too--is he blurts out the most blatant, silly ideas and he totally plays it straight. He's serious about his cinematic deeds, no matter how far-fetched and stupid they sound. The movie is full of quirky characters. One quote that I will always remember is by Adrian Greenier, who plays the bong-toking crew member, when he's talking to Melanie Griffith's character. He offers her a hit from his crackpipe. She refuses, and he tells her, "I used to have all sorts of problems. Now it's just drugs. It's given my life a real focus!"

The climax is pretty...well...snappy. Unique but snappy. And I think Waters could've come up with something better. I don't know what, I just felt it was missing something.

"Cecil B. Demented" is wild, original and often funny. And after seeing this movie, I'm anxious to check out Waters' earlier work. On the DVD, there is a pretty good commentary by the director. He rambles on at times, but it's often pretty insightful. It's also interesting to find out "There is no extra in a John Waters movie." He incorporates the same cast members into every one of his movies.

My score: 7 (out of 10)

Any film with Alicia Witt and Maggie Gyllenhaal has very good things going for it visually. And although a little weird for mainstream audiences, "Cecil B. DeMented is a very entertaining film. Imagine a spoof about the American film industry and American movie audiences, packaged as a cross between "Dr. Strangelove" and "State and Main".

It is after all a John Waters film, and a film set in his hometown of Baltimore. Which means the jokes will be hit-and-miss, with many best appreciated by film industry insiders and Baltimore natives. But the obvious fun the cast has playing their out-there characters is infectious. Melanie Griffith (Tippi Hedren's daughter) has a ball tweaking her diva image as she plays an aging star gradually won over to the cause of her kidnappers (insert Patti Hearst here who actually has a small part in the picture). Alicia Witt gives her best ever performance as the delectable porn star turned revolutionary. The best scene is when she and her fellow film revolutionaries hide out at a porn theater showing "Rear Entry", an anal epic co-starring Witt and a randy gerbil.

Stephen Dorff, before he went insane and got involved with Pamela (slug) Anderson, does a good job as the title character. But watch closely for an absolutely glowing performance by Gyllenhaal. She is something special with lines like: "I haven't had this much fun since my last livestock mutilation!"

Worth watching if you have a sense of humor, even better if you are demented.

While I've enjoyed John Waters recent output, movies like Pecker and Serial Mom have played it a little to safe for my liking. It's great to think of middle-America watching any kind of Waters movie rather than pap like Pearl Harbor and The Mummy Returns, but these movies only give half the picture. While Cecil B. Demented isn't pure unadulterated Waters like Pink Flamingos, it is his best movie since Cry Baby, and a complete HOOT. Man, the sheer energy and humour of this movie, and the basic message of its love for REAL cinema, really pushed my buttons and left me grinning from ear to ear, and UP for a week afterwards! Hopefully someone out there is listening, 'gets it', and will check out some earlier Waters, and some of the work of Sprockets heroes, and their lives will be enriched forever.

After the bloody awful "Pecker", John Waters made this hilarious satire about a radical independent director, Cecil B. DeMented (Stephen Dorff) and his wild crew (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Adrian Grenier and Alicia Witt, among others) who kidnap a spoiled Hollywood starlet (Melanie Griffith, self-parodying her career of once successful turned B-list name) and force her to star in an underground film. In a world where the spoofs are made for the teenage audience and with the only purpose of recreating blockbusters' popular scenes (the "Scary Movie" series and its lame imitators - even the work of "cult" names like Kevin Smith - "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" - jumped on the same bandwagon), it's refreshing to watch a satire that's really funny and kitsch, but also very witty. DeMented's crew worships directors like Sam Peckinpah, Kenneth Anger, Pedro Almodóvar, Samuel Fuller, David Lynch and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and not everybody will realize the irony in the end, but for film buffs who like these tidbits, "Cecil B. DeMented" is an absolute riot. 9/10.

I started off enjoying this quite a lot but by the end, my feelings were more mixed.

To get some negatives out of the way first, it felt a little juvenile and simplistic, almost like it was written by a teenager (but a really smart one), not a guy in his 50s. Kind of neglects the idea that people can enjoy mainstream movies and weird stuff. I know Waters isn't really the most subtle director, but making things so black and white irked me towards the end.

Also there are things like all the main characters just getting away from the police halfway through the movie? They're shown surrounded, there's a cut, and then they're all off driving away?

And it's one of those movies that simplifies the filmmaking process in a surprisingly dumbed down way (sound? Editors? Shooting more than three or four scenes?) but it becomes apparent that maybe Cecil wasn't as concerned about releasing the movie, so maybe that's a dumb criticism.

Things in this are good though! It's got a great cast who are all utilised well (Adrian Grenier is even good!), the premise is a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed the first hour or so. And I do agree with many of the things Waters is trying to say- I just think it got a little on the nose towards the end.