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 Cecil B. Demented
(2000)
Director:
John Waters
Stars: Melanie Griffith, Stephen Dorff
Release Company:
Artisan
MPAA Rating: R
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Cecil B. Demented
Poster
Buy at AllPosters.com
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What perfect timing it was to see Cecil B. Demented over the Labor Day weekend, the official end to the summer schlockbuster season for Hollywood. If nothing else, I could count on director John Waters, who once brought us the robust transvestite Divine chowing down on some dog manure, to bring us something different. Once again the outrageous director delivers some entertaining fare not intended for mainstream audiences.
Forget about subtlety, Melanie Griffith stars as Honey Whitlock, a Hollywood star whose career is on the downswing; otherwise, why would she be doing a premiere in Baltimore? Honey acts completely bored with the Baltimore lifestyle, complaining about eating its famous crabcakes and eating creatures that you have to beat up with a mallet while wearing a bib, and freaking out when someone wishes her "Good luck" instead of the traditional "Break a leg" cliche. Honey just isn't getting the old Hollywood treatment and attention that she craves, so it's almost a relief when Cecil B. Demented (Stephen Dorff) and his troop of underground film guerrillas capture her to star in their film. This adds much desired excitement to Honey's life and releases her repressed anarchy.
Honey's case parallels the kidnapping of Patty Hearst back in 1974, in which the Symbionese Liberation Army brainwashed her, had her renounce her capitalistic upbringing, and assist in a bank heist. Waters doesn't lock Honey up in a closet, and doesn't perform much brainwashing, as she realizes that her Hollywood friends are shallow and that her career is heading for the dumpsters. The terrorist film troop has actually given Honey renewed hope that she can connect with true film aficionados. (Note: the real Patricia Hearst plays a small part here of a mother concerned that her son has been kidnapped and brainwashed.)
Cecil B. Demented and his Sprocket Holes Gang are on a mission to sabotage bad cinema and the targets are hilarious. They invade a theater that is showing Patch Adams (the Director's Cut), and later take over the set of another film that Waters obviously detests, the sequel to Forrest Gump. The underground filmmakers find two small-time theater allies to help, as they enlist karate fans to fend off family film fans in one scene and hilariously enlist some horny men in a porn theater to ward off some Teamsters.
If you're looking for a traditional movie with a happy ending, don't bother checking out Cecil B. Demented. Perhaps that's why it was only playing on one screen here in Phoenix, and it happened to be in the smallest theater, which only holds about 50 people. The Labor Day matinee audience was filled to capacity though and the theater was filled with much laughter during the film. It was a pleasure finally to see an original film that didn't treat us like we were illiterate and to see a film that was impossible to predict the final outcome after a few minutes into the first reel.
There's a good chance that you'll find some content in Cecil B. Demented objectionable unless you have a serious dark-side sense of humor. I don't remember any raw sexual scenes on screen, but that doesn't mean that there's no sexual content. Besides, how could a movie that features a gerbil in one scene and has one actor query the lead actress about the size of one of Mel Gibson's physical attributes be too obscene?
These are only small touches that allude to the early outrageous guerilla-style films of John Waters. Those early fans will look on Cecil B. Demented as a sell-out to more mainstream films, though it's a bit riskier than some of the 80s and 90s fare that Waters produced (like Cry Baby, Hairspray, and Pecker).
If you're still not sure whether you should brave the waters, some additional guidelines are listed below.
Cecil B. Demented is probably not for you if you enjoy the following:
1) Forrest Gump
2) Patch Adams, the Director's cut
3) The Sound of Music
4) Godzilla (1997)
5) Star Wars (The Phantom Menace)
6) Julia Roberts movies
7) Yanni
8) Jay Leno
Cecil B. Demented is probably your type of film if you enjoy the following:
1) Pulp Fiction
2) Coen brothers films
3) Pink Floyd's The Wall
4) The old Godzilla movies
5) Dawn of the Dead
6) Baltimore
7) Moby (opening theme for the film)
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