Cecil B. Demented

Rating:
Summary: Cecil B. Demented
Review: I saw the premiere of this movie at the Senator in Baltimore. It's kind of fun. The movie has a fast pace, and is a commentary on the state of modern, mass cinema. It's the most fun when the movie-terrorists go around filming their masterpiece, causing mischief and mayhem. If you're from the Baltimore area, you'll recognize all the locations used in this film. Keep an eye out for Eric Barry, aka Cheezey-E the White Mystery in his first role as the compulsively onanistic Fidget. Yo cheezey, studio pimpin ain't easy!

Rating:
Summary: DEMENTED FOREVER!
Review: Cecil B Demented isn't for everyone. It's sick, rude, odd and preachy, but hilarious at the same time. You must have an aquired taste for a film like this. Me, being an independant film buff, loved the whole message of the film, "LONG LIVE GUERILLA FILM MAKING!" It's so savagely witty, especially the PATCH ADAMS scene! I've never been a big fan of Melanie Griffith (I've kinda found her annoying), but she gets the job done very well. Steven Dorff is superb as ever, and John Waters stays true to his B movie self. I think it worth watching, and I think it deserves to belong right next to Poleyester and Serial Mom.

Rating:
Summary: A Demented Film!
Review: John Waters isn't a filmmaker who is known for his artistic talent as a filmmaker. He's not in the same league as other filmmakers as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman, and Stanley Kubrick. But this goes outwith saying. No one has other said that Waters in the true meaning of the sense of the word is a "great" filmmaker. He is though a daring one. He likes to create images that will stay with us long afterwards. But this isn't due to the fact that they are well written scenes, or that they are powerful films with wonderful characters,and well performed actors and actresses. No, the reason they remain memorable is simply because, they are the most digusting things you've ever seen! No Waters' fan can not forget the dog feces scene in "Pink Flamingoss". It's because of scenes like that, that Waters has become "a name". When thinking back on his films, they all had a certain something that we will never forget, "Polyerster", "Hairspray", and so on all had a certain uniqueness to them. The problem with this film is there is no "dog feces" scene. There is no scene that will utterly shock you. The screenplay by Waters, believe it or not, is sorta "normal". Sure here and there, there are some scenes that steal the show, and do prove to be quite funny. The making of "Gump Again", brought a smile to my face, as we see Kevin Nealon playing Gump. "Patch Adams: The Dircetor's Cut" is funny in thought, but not the scene itself. And the ending of the movie is probably the most outrageous thing in the whole movie. But it's not "pure" Waters. It's missing a certain "spark" to it. The story is about a wannabe filmmaker, Cecil B. Demented (Stephen Dorff), he's sick and tired of Hollywood. And wants to make "great" movies! In order to do this, he kidnaps Honey Whitlock (Melanie Griffith), who is a big Hollywood star. Demented and his gang, which includes Alica Witt (Cherish)are out to not only make an underground movie, but to also suprise Hollywood with his outrageous "acts". Making Griffith actually set her hair on fire, asking her to jump off of buildings, and shooting people with guns! This is a movie die-hard Waters fan will be disappointed in, it doesn't offer the "raunchiness" of his other films. Non Waters fan will look at this movie, and think, Oh My God!!! This is the worst movie I've ever seen! Even though I'm giving it one star, for some reason, I can't say I completely hate this movie, it's sorta what you expect from John Waters, just it doesn't build up to his past films. Pass this one up and wait for cable.

Rating:
Summary: He did it again!
Review: Like always, Water's expresses his opinions openly about mainstream film through his movies. Only this time his opinions were the plot. It revolves around what every arthouse or independent movie goer, or even producer is thinking and gossiping about; how Hollywood brainwashes people and fills their minds with thoughtless bombs, explosions, and weak story lines. POWER TO THE PEOPLE THAT AVENGE BAD CINEMA! This is great, like all John Waters' movies

Rating:
Summary: For Demented Waters fans only. (You know who you are).
Review: I have to agree with "Bob's" review from 9-17-00. I'll just say that Waters' short-lived fame, from Hairspray to Cry Baby, evaporated after Serial Mom. All other work of his is a waste of time. Cecil has its moments, a couple at that, but there aren't enough of them to recommend this film to others. One star for Melanie Griffith who gave it a shot, and another star for the concept, though poorly executed. A movie I wanted to like, but left me utterly disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: WATERS' MISSTEP
Review: This movie features an outrageously enthralling comic premise, a band of fringe artists who are going to claim moviedom back from the Hollywood mainstream. Unfortunately, the script, acting and direction are fairly woeful; Melanie Griffith glides through the movie without passion, and Cecil's scribes, who come off so promisingly in the first ten minutes, quickly become cartoonish and annoying. The dark but somehow always genial comedy John Waters usually injects into his creations is missing entirely from this movie; in even the most disgusting of Waters' movies, you usually find yourself laughing in spite of yourself -- Cecil spirals almost instantly downward into a noisy, violent mess, that is as unfunny as it is tasteless. Note: Ricki Lake, a prominent fixture of some of Waters' more commercial films, is wasted here, and does nothing with her small role, and Patricia Hearst has a cameo that parallels the plotline in an amusing way; however, the concept must have been funnier on paper than it is on the screen. Pass.

Rating:
Summary: This film is a gem!
Review: I don't care what anybody says, this film is fantastic! I laughed my hind-quarters off the entire time. Cecil B. Demented is a rouge filmmaker pissed off at Hollywood for churning out crappy formula films. In order to make a statement, he kidnaps a well known actress and forces her to be in his rebel film. This is a cute premise, and quickly endeared me to the rest of the film. What comes after is a wonderful frolic into silliness. You cannot take this film seriously. It was meant to be a self-parody. With it's insanely funny biting critique of recent "traditional" Hollywood films and it's outrageous over-the-top performances, you simply cannot walk away from this movie the same as you came in to it. What a laugh! John Waters, Thank You so much for this film! How bizarre. What a Gem this will be for my DVD collection.

Rating:
Summary: Cecil B. mine
Review: I just saw this movie in theaters in P-town,.cape cod. I laughed, I cryed, I even felt nauseas in some scenes, john waters is brillant, and i think that this is the besat acting job i've ever seen miss. griffth do. Go see this movie while u can!

Rating:
Summary: "Who Cares What Anyone Thinks?...Except, Satan!"
Review: In this John Waters movie we have a renegade crew of underground filmmakers making their first movie. This is a movie about making a movie. This "gang of cinematic terrorists" is headed by Cecil B. Demented (Stephen Dorff) who directs the movie and leads all of his "sprocketholes". They kidnap the stuck-up and ultra bitchy Honey Whitlock (Melanie Griffith) to save her from her bad career. She is the star of their film, and they at first, force her to do everything, but she soon becomes one of them. They use "real life violence", so in their movie people die, and they are all in hiding because they are up for the death penalty. They film their movie throughout the city targeting a local strip mall with a movie theater playing Patch Adams. Then a Maryland film festival which beforehand goes on live television to make a statement against them. It's hilarious with a purposely tacky element that's always present in Water's movies.

Long live guerilla film making!

Rating:
Summary: Gets a couple of things right.
Review: Whatever you think of his movies, John Waters is impossible not to like as a person--or at least as an engaging interviewee (I've lost track of the number of times he's been a guest on NPR). His roots are in the same 1950's leering, voyeuristic pop culture (or subculture) as mine (though unlike John I doubt I could ever prefer Jayne Mansfield to Marilyn); like me, he loved and faithfully attended B movies and double features (and like me and Roger Ebert, he was a big Russ Meyer fan); finally, his literary inspiration was the same as mine: Grace Metallious' "Peyton Place" (why did my high school teacher report me to my parents when I submitted a book report on PP? I'd submit that today's students should be written up for not advancing beyond "Narnia" and all the other fantasy clutter).

In "Cecil B. Demented" Waters hits it on the head when he singles out and ridicules the two worst films of the past 15 years ("Patch Adams" and "Forrest Gump"), and there's enough diverting business to hold your attention for the duration, which is more than I can say for the other four Waters' movies that I've seen, beginning with the canonical, practically enshrined "Pink Flamingos." (I may be in the minority, but Divine strikes me as no more sexy or funny than your average overweight truck driver in drag. I'll take Melanie Griffith any day.)

The juvenilia in this film strikes me as less offensive than Waters' customary fare--providing you find 90 minutes of masturbation jokes more tolerable than 90 minutes of scatalogical "humor." And the emphasis on pleasuring oneself seems to have more than shock value--if we take the director's "message" to be that the auteur who plays his instrument his own way is to be esteemed above the Hollywood director who sells out to corporate greed and the masses. The film even offers a refreshing glimpse of cultist passion among local vigilantes in what clearly aspires to be a cult film itself.

But directors don't make cult films, audiences do--as Ed Wood may have discovered had he lived long enough. And even the presence of Waters' new repertory player Patty Hearst can't give the film the bite, or cultish edge, that it's obviously seeking (Patty, after all, was never a vigilante--an "extra," at best, during her celebrity stint with the Symbionese Liberation Army).

I suspect that the biggest problem with this film is its near Hollywood-sized budget, the biggest by far for a John Waters movie. "If you can't beat em, join em, but pretend you haven't" Waters seems to be saying. The result is an odd concoction--an alternative film that's too mainstream to be cult, too slick to be camp, too infantile to be a "big" or commercially successful movie, and, worst, too insincere to convey a personal vision. Sadly, John has created a pretentious film, which just isn't the kind of movie he's good at.