Cecil B. Demented (2000)

Some things I liked some I did not.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Cult director John Waters has always been a favourite amongst those familiar with the 'Midnight Movie' circuit. The Midnight Movies were a bunch of films that included David Lynch's Eraserhead (1977), Alejandro Jodorowsky's El Topo (1970), and Waters' own Pink Flamingos (1972), that were screened in New York in the 1970's to an audience looking for an artistic vision that tended to push the boundaries of taste and subject matter, and led to re-discoveries of films now considered classics such as Freaks (1932) and Night of the Living Dead (1968). Waters, as well as championing the great auteurs such as Pasolini and Fassbinder, was always an outspoken fan of zero-budget schlock like Criminally Insane (1975) and the work of Herschell Gordon Lewis. And this is the focus of Cecil B. Demented, a movie essentially for cinephiles, and one that has the movie business as a whole fixed in its sights.Hollywood starlet Honey Whitlock (Melanie Griffith) is on the verge of another smash hit when she attends the premiere in Baltimore. In front of a shocked audience and many cameras, she is kidnapped by psychopathic film director Cecil B. Demented (Stephen Dorff). Demented takes Honey back to his studio, where his loyal crew, calling themselves the Sprocket Holes, have a vision to take cinema back for the auteurs, and crush the studio system (who are in production of Forrest Gump 2). Honey is to be the star in the first of a new movement - Outlaw Cinema - a process that strips back all production values in favour of achieving ultimate reality. They have also taken a vow of chaste, and will not have sex until the movie is done. Seeing opinion of her drastically slide on television, Honey starts to sympathise with Demented's movement, and eventually she wilfully comes over to the cause.It can be said that true satire cuts both ways, and that is certainly what Waters achieves with this. As an obsessive movie fan myself, there's many a time when I've been eager to tear down the poster of a new Zac Efron movie or punch someone in the face when they've describe how much they love Marley & Me (2008). I sometimes want to scream about how much they're missing through ignorance and that it's their fault so much s**t gets made. But there's times when I've looked back at my own pretentiousness and felt embarrassed at criticising someone who ultimately wants something entirely different out of cinema than I do. Demented's bunch of misfits are nothing more than dysfunctional psychopaths; cartoon cut-outs that are too extreme to not laugh at. Waters seems to be amused more by these scarf-wearing chin-strokers than by those who inadvertently fund the studio system.Although a lot doesn't really work in Cecil B. Demented, I still got a lot out of it. This is mainly due to the fact that I share a lot of Waters' opinions, and can get as much enjoyment out of a tacky old Larry Cohen or Herschell Gordon Lewis horror as I could with something from Godard or Bunuel. Occasionally the bad taste humour doesn't go down so well, such as the sloppy penetration sounds when the gang can finally get down to it, or the rather silly 'Demented Forever' sing-a-long, but Stephen Dorff's wide-eyed, energetic performance managed to be a nice distraction. Demented could be seen as an answer to many of Waters' fans objections to his occasional dabbling with the mainstream, with his colourful efforts Hairspray (1988) and (the very enjoyable) Serial Mom (1994) playing in direct contrast to Pink Flamingos, which infamously contains a scene of dog-s**t eating. But this is a criticism and a homage to the movies, something that all cinephiles can understand.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

Hollywood's aging star Honey Whitlock(Melanie Griffith, who seems like she was born to star in a John Waters flick)is kidnapped by "cinema terrorists" with director Cecil B Demented(Stephen Dorff)head honcho behind the whole ordeal. Honey is to star in his underground film which is shot on the streets completely devoid of the studio system. The whole point behind the anarchy of Demented and his group is to pointedly bitch-slap the establishment in the face, by any means necessary. Unfortunately Baltimore will be the target of their crusade and Honey becomes a cult hero as a media circus develops. The police make it their mission to bring down Demented. The crew of this film range from a porn star(who claims she was molested by her entire family underneath the Christmas tree)to a Satanist(who gulps down goat urine), but they are extreme fans of cinema and believe the system Hollywood is backing needs a revolution. Demented's film is aimed as the start of the evolution of a new artform. Soon violence erupts as a result of his raw film-making style(they attack a theater showing the director's cut of PATCH ADAMS;and a stand-off with police during a riot of a Maryland Film Commission luncheon). As the film continues, Honey has a change of heart regarding her captors once she realizes that Cecil is behind her new rise in popularity.Grows more and more absurd as the Waters' film continues(Honey leaps off a building landing on her feet below;Honey sets her hair on fire for Cecil)such as Demented and company raiding the set of a FORREST GUMP sequel starring Kevin Nealon(!)resulting in a gunfight with teamsters! There's an inspired chase into a porno theater where Cherish(Alicia Witt)gets seats for her group in a film starring her as the remaining teamsters find themselves against an army of pervs! There's even a chase into an action flick where Demented calls on the fans of the theater to assist them against a pack of spiteful mothers from a grocery store(!) who hate what the cinema terrorists are doing to their youth. The film is as demented as the title character who is willing to burn himself alive in a wheelchair for his film!

At the start of CECIL B. DeMENTED, we see a cluster of close-ups showing teens posing as ushers, doormen and whatever, getting ready to celebrate the premiere of a new film starring Honey Whitlock (MELANIE GRIFFITH), an overage Hollywood diva making a personal appearance to promote her new flick. All of them are treating the premiere as a countdown to some sort of disastrous event because they're all in on the kidnapping plan.Well, the disastrous event does happen--but it's this John Waters film that scores big in that department! Just awful. All the dialog, all the sight gags, all the performances are just short of amateurish, so painfully bad that I forced myself to pay attention until the final out of control ending, by which time director Waters seemed to have lost all control of his project, his cast and his story.Ironically, the theme of this "comedy" is supposed to be "down with mainstream film-making" as the insane Cecil B. DeMented intends to kidnap movie star Griffith so that he can use her as the drawing card on his own underground film where only the first take is ever used because he's a seeker of "the truth" and pure vision. But Water's film, while making fun of mainstream trash (and sometimes rightfully so), is itself an example of less than mediocre craftsmanship, crude, tasteless, and full of puerile humor, the kind that grosses some people out, as well as an unhealthy dose of vulgarity.It's when director DeMented (played by STEPHEN DORFF) takes his film-making crew on the road into the real world that all hell breaks loose. None of the cast has anything more than paper thin characterizations to worry about so they appear to be having a good time as they wreak havoc everywhere. The laughs are scant and the film itself just keeps getting worse as it wobbles on and on toward what is supposed to be an exciting finale.Summing up: Lots of R-rated stuff. Keep the kiddies home for this one.Strictly amateur night material which had me wondering whether MELANIE GRIFFITH was so hard up that she had to take part in such an enormous mess. She fully deserved her "Razzie" Award for Worst Actress of the Year. Too bad someone didn't do her a favor and really kidnap her to prevent her from showing up at the studio!I felt like I was watching an Ed Wood film, except it wasn't in glorious B&W!

This was such an awful film.Awful acting! What an earth was Melanie Griffith trying to achieve? She managed to make herself look old, decrepit and desperate...yes desperate for a part in a movie! Any movie! Awful script! Awful characters! My boyfriend (who has very warped taste) loved this but I found it boring, trashy and without any style or comment. I don't always like to watch heavy duty films but I do like to come away having felt something...sadness, side splitting hilarity or shock maybe...but not aching muscles from yawning.Don't waste your time on this.