Pecker

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

In his Baltimore neighborhood Pecker (Edward Furlong), who takes pictures of its benignly weird denizens, is regarded as a sweetly beamy pest. In the New York art world, however, he comes to be regarded as a divine primitive. You can probably imagine the clash when Waters brings Pecker's blue-collar subjects together with his chic discoverers. Much more fun--as always in Waters' genially transgressive movies--are the rich portrayals of his fellow Baltimoreans, among them Christina Ricci's Laundromat Nazi, Mary Kay Place's fashion-forward thrift-shop owner and Jean Schertler's goofy grandma using a statue of the Virgin Mary to practice some pious ventriloquism. Check 'em out.

--By Richard Schickel