Amazon.com Essentials:
John Waters made his bid for PG respectability with this
enjoyably trashy comedy about the racial integration of a teen dance
show on Baltimore television in the early '60s. Waters, as always,
makes a virtue of junk culture and the powerful emotional forces it
can represent as kids vie to get on the show. Meanwhile, a parade of
former stars (Pia Zadora, Debbie Harry, Sonny Bono) and pseudostars
(Divine, Ricki Lake) cross the screen, playing freakish characters
absorbed by thoughts of fame. (Waters himself turns up as a weirdo
psychiatrist.) This transitional film for Waters is rough going at
times and not as interesting or funny as his later features Cry-Baby and Serial Mom, but
it's worth a look. --Tom Keogh
