John Waters’s Cecil B. Demented is a rough but exuberant ode to movies with more passion than funding, to the cheap, the sleazy, the dangerous, the weird, and—above all—the profoundly unmarketable.
But fledgling director Cecil B. Demented (Stephen Dorff) has found a way for his guerrilla filmmaking to grab eyeballs, even if out-and-out cash would sully it. With the help of his fanatically devoted cast and crew, the Sprocket Holes, he’s going to kidnap bored, tetchy A-lister Honey Whitlock (Melanie Griffith) and force her to star in his next movie … at gunpoint, if necessary.
As always, Waters loves his bad taste. Who else would be rude enough to make a darkly comedic riff on Patty Hearst’s kidnapping and likable enough to talk Hearst herself into appearing in a supporting role, effectively granting her blessing to the DayGlo punk proceedings?
Hearst’s real-life ordeal was brutal, devastating, and complicated; Honey’s is hilarious and, despite all its slapstick violence and bloodshed, generous towards its “Demented for Life” filmmaking cult. After all, John Waters would probably join it … and I’d be tempted too. (Though I have to say, these kids all have tattoos of their favorite directors’ names, and I know every single one of them. I hate to break it to you, Cecil, but you might be a bit more mainstream than you think.)
We’re not surprised, then, that Honey is inducted into their ways without too much fuss. Sure, they abduct her, slobber all over her (chastely, but still), and even trick her into some light homicide, but they know when she’s doing good work and when she isn’t. We suspect it’s been a while since Hollywood has paid that much attention. Honey and Cecil end up forming a genuine, if profoundly fucked-up, director-lead collaboration, and the chemistry between Griffith and Dorff make us feel like it’s something more than mere Stockholm Syndrome. Honey’s been coasting through life, and she’s forgotten what loving her art feels like. Now she’s remembering, and she doesn’t mind shrugging off the accompanying body count.
Cecil B. Demented has plenty of flaws. Even at only 88 minutes, it’s a little baggy, and one key sequence—where Cecil and the Sprocket Holes seek sanctuary in a movie theater with a congenial audience—is effectively done twice, once with action fans unleashing kung fu on their behalf and once, in a porn theater, with more open mouths and full-on erections. It’s as if Waters couldn’t decide which version he liked best. But since I can’t either, it’s hard to bear much of a grudge. I suspect this is a case where being able to get on the movie’s goofy, violent, amoral wavelength—where there’s something perversely heartwarming about outsiders forming a family even if they really, really shouldn’t—makes you forgive any number of sins.
Because really, there’s a lot to enjoy here. The supporting cast is ridiculously stacked, even down to Larry Gilliard Jr., Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon—and who knew I could ever like Adrian Grenier in anything? Not me, but here he plays an amiable leading man addicted to everything under the sun, huffing glue in one scene, asking for poppers in the next, and dammit, he’s charming and funny! Gyllenhaal plays an affectionate Satanist who quaffs goat urine, just to throw in another bit of character detail.
The costuming, overseen by Linda M. Boyland, is superb—colorful, creative, and revealing of character. The same is true of the sets, especially in the Sprocket Holes’ hideout (Vincent Peranio handled production design). A lot of love, energy, and talent went into this movie, even if no one involved was willing to kill for it. (Admittedly, I haven’t fact-checked that last part.)
And, of course, it’s funny, with an appealing densityof jokes and gags. There’s the Hollywood satire—I got a pretty big laugh out of the theatrical marquee for Patch Adams: The Director’s Cut. There’s the physical comedy, like a crowd frantically shoveling down oysters to comply with a Cecil’s instructions for his endangered “extras.” There’s the sheer line-crossing wrongness of Cherish (Alicia Witt) tumultuously recounting the “recovered memories” no one else believes: “My father sat on my face as he opened his Christmas presents!” There’s the sheer recognition of the way Cecil’s edgy bad boy (and, you know, cult leader) charisma temporarily heads for the hills when, horror of horrors, his tame, middle-class parents show up. Mom. Dad. You’re embarrassing him.
Cecil B. Demented is, appropriately, demented. It rarely aspires to be anything more than sheer energetic fun for film-loving weirdos, and maybe it would be better if it did. Then again, there may be more actual masterpieces in the world than there are gleeful goofs made with this little taste and this much talent. On balance, to paraphrase Community, let’s let Cecil B. Demented sing its awkward song.
Cecil B. Demented is streaming on Tubi, Prime, Pluto, and the Criterion Channel.
About the writer
Lauren James
Lauren James is a writer who wears many different hats (and pen names). She lives in Connecticut with her wife and two cats.
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Anthologized
A little slice of American folklore that feels like it's been here all along.
Streaming Shuffle
You make your royal bed, and you lie in it.
Anthologized
Alone in vast space and timeless infinity: one man in a ghost town.
Streaming Shuffle
A beautiful slice-of-life film that helped make a career.
Department of
Conversation
“Censorship is another word for family!” An early watch at the little indie theater when I first got to college, just what a little wanna-be punk film nerd needed. The overlap between Tubi and Criterion is a fascinating zone.
“Tubirion”
I almost added something to the effect that if anything can be on both Tubi and Criterion, it’s almost guaranteed that I’ll love it.
I feel the same way. Loved this write-up.
It’s the best Venn diagram overlap. And thank you!
What Did We Watch?
Cop Land – Gotta make sure there is a space, or people will think this is a bio of the guy who wrote Appalachian Spring. Stallone goes against type and plays a sad sack sheriff in a NJ town basically run by the NYC cops who live there, and who has to find his backbone when it’s clear the cops’ corruption knows no bounds. The premise is interesting, the cast is stacked (Liotta is Stallone’s buddy, De Niro is Internal Affairs vs lead bad guy Harvey Keitel, Janeane Garafolo and Noah Emmerich are Sly’s deputies, Peter Berg and Robert Patrick and so forth), and James Mangold directs a few scenes really well. But the story veers from murky to obvious and never quite becomes a compelling narrative. And while Stallone doesn’t do a bad job at all, his performance is all broad strokes when a bit more depth would have helped.
Kojak, “Conspiracy of Fear” – Kojak’s man inside a corrupt construction project is killed, and naturally Kojak needs to get to the truth. A bit byzantine in terms who owns whom, with an under-successful morality play involving the front man for the Mob. Nicholas Colasanto, still playing heavies, is a good Mob boss, and Gretchen Corbett before Rockford is solid as the mistress of the front man. (Weird thing: the Mob boss is named Marchette. Rockford fans know that most of that show’s Mob bosses have names ending in -ette. I thought it was a Cannell thing or a Chase thing. Was it an Universal Studios thing? “Italians can’t complain, all our mobsters are French”?)
Live Music – third night of live music in a row (illustration of myself just withering into dust) was a band from Scotland called Nightshift, who share a bassist with one of my current favourite UK bands, Dancer. Nightshift don’t do it for me as much on record but they were really fun live, a mix of post-punk / new wave / psychedelic sounds elevated by their singer who was very funny and charming (and possibly a little intoxicated). One of the supports I had seen before and already found to be Not For Me (kinda churning no-wave dourness), a second viewing did not improve my opinions alas. But the opening band were a new local indie-punk band called Interkosmos who were a lot of fun, will look forward to seeing them again.
Only Connect – a third appearance for my friend who has been leading a team on this quiz show, they were behind right until the final round when she had an amazing run of answers and they ended up winning it in the final seconds, exciting stuff.
Woo live music! Woo fighting your stupid body’s decrepitude!
Woooooo live music!!
For those who don’t know, and I only recently learned this myself, Dancer’s newest album is called 10 Songs I Hate About You. I’ve been planning to check them out just based on that.
Beatles ‘64 – Like the lady who admits to buying a piece of towel the Fab Four touched, I’ll watch anything Beatles. But the amazing footage shot by the Maysles is formless in its search for context. The archival footage is solid showing the FF at the time of their arrival to America in February 1964 dealing with the madness of American fans, and interviews on the street with people who were either part of the excitement or incredulous of it. David Tedeschi (George Harrison: Living in the Material World) gets some nice details, like the lads being annoyed at deejay Murray K following them around. But the overall context is unfocused. Is it about a nation’s spirits being lifted mere months after the Kennedy assassination? (John Lennon’s worry about Lee Harvey Oswald hinting at American violence is chilling foreshadowing.) Is it about the Beatles meeting the black artists who influenced them? Is it about Boomers reflecting on why the Beatles mattered? The Jack Douglas subplot was interesting. Contemporary interviews with Ringo and Paul show the incredible energy the octogenarians still have. But overall the excellent Maysles footage is used in a hodgepodge manner providing glimpses but not a big picture.
Agreed, I feel like I’d have had a better time just watching the Maysles stuff in full and drawing my own conclusions than whatever this update is trying to say. I did love modern-day Ringo’s energy though.
SUNDAY
Lioness
Season 2, Episode 5. “Shatter the Moon”. First time.
The team gets split, with half going back to the border to try an unsanctioned rescue of some of the kidnapped kids from the previous episode, with disastrous results. The other half finally starts the infiltration mission proper, with the discharged marine pilot going back to her cartel lawyer dad with her CIA shadow in tow, pretending to be her girlfriend. Par for the course for this show, with every single scene loaded with patented Taylor Sheridan Talk.
It bears noting too that, for some reason, Paramount+ opted not to upload any new episodes for a month here in México while still following their regular schedule in the U.S.A., to the point where the entire season is done over there and here it still has three episodes left to go. Doesn’t make much sense to me, and if my wife wasn’t as busy as she is I wonder if she’d feel tempted to just go look up how the season ends.
Last two nights…
Monday Night Football, including the Simpsonscast
The Simpsonscast actually ended up being a lot more fun than I expected. Even if Homer lined up as multiple Cowboys (at points, I saw him as Cooper Rush, Malik Hooker, and Marist Liufau). But there were some pretty good lines and references the announcers got in.
“Tie game, ten minutes left. The winner will be showered with praise. The loser will be taunted and booed until my throat is sore.”
When it was still tied ever later: “Homer doesn’t want the game to end in a tie; it’ll be the first time in his life he’s worked overtime.”
Also, what an incredibly funny way for the Cowboys to lose. (Successfully blocking a Bengals punt that still travels about 13 yards, whereupon a Cowboys special teamer inexplicably tries to field it, and the Bengals get the ball back, then score the game-winning TD three plays later.)
I’m sure I’ve mentioned the “You Only Move Twice”-related bit of NFL trivia before, right?
Abbott Elementary, “Winter Show” and “Winter Break”
Back-to-back episodes last week closed out the show for the year, with the first surrounding the talent show at the school before break (and a delightful re-appearance from Tariq, particularly with Barbara). We also get to meet Jacob’s brother Caleb, who fills in both of these episodes. At first this annoyed me a little– there’s friction between the two brothers and they don’t talk much; does everyone on this show have a shitty family life? (I guess Barbara doesn’t, but she’s also the oldest of the crew. Melissa’s also seems more “typically stubborn, ball-busting Philly Italian” than actually shitty in some deeper way. And Mr. Johnson’s family life is, like most things about him, a wondrous bit of mystery.) But it resolves rather quickly and nicely in a way I didn’t expect.
Tariq still might be the comedy-per-minute MVP. I loved his brief exchange with Barbara: “What up, Bar-Bar?” “Do not call me that.” “Yes ma’am.” And of Caleb’s moments charming the rest of the Abbott faculty (which clearly annoyed Jacob), my favorite was him telling Gregory “I’m gonna let you out of this conversation so I don’t corner you with small talk.” “I deeply appreciate that.”
Also, nice bit of stunt casting at the end of this episode! I assume that will play off in the future.
The second focuses on what all the teachers (and faculty) are doing on Christmas Eve. We get the full Schemmenti family (Lauren Weedman, who a couple of you may recognize from Hacks, returns as Melissa’s sister, and Talia Shire joins us as the Schemmenti matriarch). We also get a surprise drop-in by Ava on Janine and Gregory.
Okay, the logistics didn’t totally make sense, because Janine and Gregory technically invited everyone to a “Christmas Eve party,” but then acted like they wanted the night alone? Mr. Johnson recognized a courtesy invite when he saw one; I think everyone else just had plans with family. So I don’t know if Janine and Gregory intended for anyone to take them up on it or not. And then Janine’s weird inability to read situations comes up again– I pretty much took this observation from LaToya Ferguson over at Episodic Medium– when she’s mad Gregory is obviously keeping something secret that Ava, their friend and co-worker who clearly has nowhere to go on Christmas Eve, asks him to. It wasn’t as bad as “I still want couples weekend watching movies even though I clearly have ringworm and will infect you,” but, come on, have a little sense to put two and two together here. You teach second grade, I know y’all got to two plus two.
Also, I figured out exactly what Mr. Johnson’s real plans were after he said “I’m going to the North Pole; I got Vixen and Dancer waiting for me.”
Oh, yeah, they were pretty good. No super-standout episodes, but still more of a piece with a good season 4 after a somewhat rocky season 3.
The Shield, “Rap Payback,” “Man Inside,” “Kavanaugh”
“Rap Payback”: In which Kavanaugh turns up the heat, we meet Kasper the friendly ghost, and Fatima confirms her (and Dutch’s, and Claudette’s) suspicions about what Kleavon really is.
“Man Inside”: Oh, God, there are some brutal lines of foreshadowing here.
And this is the one with Jimmy Johnson in the cage! “You gotta find Terry, he’s the one who should be in here!”
Plus, of course, “You get in there and you close him.”
“Kavanaugh”: God, it gets unbearable at times! I love Lem’s what-the-fuck-dude look at Vic’s “At least we found his weak spot.” And of course, the heat gets turned all the way up at the end.
Without spoilers, I don’t really want to get into detail. You can always shoot me a message in a spoiler-friendly space if you want to talk more!
Ha – I hadn’t seen the end to that game. The ghost of Leon Lett haunts the team.
The Kids In The Hall, Season Two, Episode Two
– “You’re right. When the bullets are in, it definitely has a higher pitch.” Always amuses me when McKinney exaggerates his Canadian accent.
– The French hunters going through an office killed me when the visual pun driving the whole thing was revealed.
– “He went bald? Men are so predictable.”
– “Hello, equals! Is this chair taken? It can’t be, I brought it from home.”
– “Oh, this isn’t fun anymore.” / “No, keep going. Honesty is important.”
– “Yeah, I’m just about to fire Chris.”
– “Hey, I got new shoes. You wanna see ’em?”
– “Welcome aboard, you’ll really be missed.”
– “Look into my face, and know, that to look into my face, is to look into evil!!!” [is Kevin MacDonald]
– “Number two? You’re fired.”
– Based on his signature for his drawing, Scott Thompson’s gay monologue guy is named Buddy. Or possibly Bunny. Oh, Bruce McCulloch’s character referred to him as Buddy.
– “Two down, bottom of the ninth. Bases are loaded. God, I love cliches.”
– [ignores pitched ball] “It had attitude.”
Hacks, Season Two, Episode Seven, “On The Market”
– We don’t see Deb and Jimmy interact often yet after that first episode or two. It’s great to see two professionals bouncing off each other. Hell, even him talking to Ava is great.
– Deb is interesting because unlike many other women she’s managed to break through and stay through, at least partially because of the nature of her job. It seems easier for someone in the public eye to stay in the public eye than a director.
– Ava’s in a very different, much less impulsive place.
– The Current Year references annoy me significantly less than when other shows do it. Like I hate Current Year references as a matter of course, but this show is fine. One day I’ll watch a drama with my exact aesthetic tastes, and I’ll probably have written it.
– Ava is believable as someone people would throw themselves at, unlike Liz Lemon or Jerry Seinfeld.
– Haha, Kayla making herself genuinely useful is so funny.
“Oh, the beaver! What were we thinking?”
Scott Thompson’s iconic character is named Buddy Cole.
Heh, yeah. But I might have weaknesses for a redhead and a girl who can look like a sad puppy dog.
Juror #2 – Hey, look what popped back up at the theater near me! Take that, Zaszlav, I will not pay you $10 for your collection of movies and shows, I will pay you $10 for one movie!
But kidding aside (it was discount Tuesday anyway), this was a great theater watch as advertised. Its sorta-thriller kinda-noir plot will play well at home, but the performances are what raises this above the general bar for “afternoon cable watch.” A great idea for a story told in a pretty good script, ruminating on the meaning of justice and our role in deciding how to apply it. Everybody is doing their best, debatable that there are any villains here. Even the politically ambitious! This might seem fanciful these days, but I think on a local level it’s true (or at least plausible, which is all this movie needs to be), and it makes for a compelling, thorny conflict.
There were, however, some extremely noisy old people in my theater, one of whom I was compelled to confront in weary Eastwood style when they answered a phone call for several minutes during the film. I assumed they were plants by Warner Bros streaming advocates but then the husband of the caller came over and apologized after the film and we had a brief but interesting discussion about the ending of the movie. Wouldn’t get that experience at home!
Old people at the movies are the worst. Along with young people, kids, and humans beings of all ages.
One funny story about old women at the theater: Near the end of A Bronx Tale, the film’s unadvertised guest star comes on screen. And two old ladies some rows ahead of me start going “is that Joe Pesci? is that Joe Pesci?” It was sort of endearing.
I know only what I’ve heard and read, but this phenomenon with people standing up in the middle of Wicked for a selfie and loudly singing along makes me never want to go to a theater again.
Several minutes! Any jury would convict.
I was told “it’s important” which, already in legal language mode, I mentally noted is distinct from “it’s an emergency”. Found out afterward it was a grandchild having trouble with the code to unlock the door at their house. This is what texting is for! Or if it’s not resolved in the first ten seconds go out to the lobby! Ladies and gentlemen, this woman would have you believe…
Death penalty!
You guys should watch the season-2 premiere of Elsbeth.
The plot for Juror #3.
“Everybody is doing their best, debatable that there are any villains here.”
Objection! Move to strike the first part! Because while there are no real villains — even the 12 Angry Men Juror #3 equivalent has deeper reasons than his inspiration — people are not doing their best. A small but meaningful example is the lack of questioning follow-through that lets Simmons on the jury in the first place, it is not malicious but it’s a muff. And this happens along with people who are trying their best, and in the end what does the system allow? What space is there when people are content to rationalize or be less? The movie doesn’t condemn this but it looks at it pretty harshly. Anyway, agreed it’s great stuff:
https://www.mediamagpies.com/the-eyes-have-it-juror-2-reviewed/
I mean to say everybody is trying their best. There’s no slacking public defender, the ambitious DA isn’t pulling dirty tricks just to get into higher office, a juror is thrown out for good cause but in both the legal ruling and the story sense there’s no contempt for the court. The closest one you could say is breaking the rules for personal gain is our protagonist and that’s the thrust of the conflict. When there’s overlapping truths, what is it that informs everyone’s layer of choice? Have a couple other thoughts that I’ll put on the article since it discusses the whole plot.
… I’m going to allow this, but watch yourself Counselor.
In addition to the performances raising this up a notch, I’d add a couple of deft but not-too-showy choices: the way a single, brutal cut moves us from Yarbrough’s solemn, unhesitating vow to never acquit to that verdict being read is just great. Eastwood knows when we need to see the process and when we don’t, and in this case, we follow Hoult’s commitment (reluctant and horrified though it might be) rather than his actions. As soon as he knows he has to flip it again to save himself, we hit the consequences.
Absolutely, Eastwood gets described through the simplicity of his process but at its best it’s a testament to how great the basic tools of filmmaking are at telling a story. The moment when Hoult realizes his role in the murder is a fantastic bit of editing.