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A
DEMENTED EFFORT...
Written
by Dean
Kish
Cast::
Stephen Dorff, Melanie Griffith, Alicia Witt, Maggie
Gyllenhaal, Patty Hearst
 Premise:
In an attempt to "rise up and take back the screen"
and "stop the mass distribution of mediocre movies"
Baltimore-based underground cult group the Sprocket
Holes, run by rebellious vigilante film director Cecil
B. Demented (Stephen Dorff), kidnap Honey Whitlock (Melanie
Griffith), a brassy Hollywood star. The Sprocket Holes
force Whitlock to star in Demented's new movie, "Raving
Beauty," in which she plays the insane owner of a bankrupt
art film theater.
Overall
Rating:
(out of 4)
Rated R
for
strong crude sexual content, violence, language and
drug use.
Take
a little Patty Hearst kidnapping story and throw in a
renegade posse bent on destroying mainstream Hollywood
and you get John Water’s latest comedy farce.
“Cecil
B Demented” tells the story of a spoiled Hollywood
star named Holly Whitlock (Melanie Griffith) who is
ambushed and kidnapped by a group of “cinema”
terrorists lead by the film’s title character Cecil
B Demented played by Stephen Dorff. Cecil believes that
it’s his life goal to destroy mainstream Hollywood
and deliver an “outlaw” film on the subject
to the masses. Believing in his dream he will do whatever
is necessary to accomplish this. He has sworn his posse
to never have sex until the film is accomplished. This
adds to comic element is that within the posse are two
characters who will find just that really hard to do.
One of those characters is a porn starlet named Cherish
(played by Alicia Witt) and a sexually confused straight
guy who hates that he is straight.
“Demented”
runs on way to long and spoils the interesting careers
of Dorff and Witt. I loved the shock character played
by Witt but that only last a couple minutes. Griffith
is way out of her element here and Dorff is just playing
yet another psychotic twenty-something year old.
Don’t get me wrong there are some laughs here and
some really bizarre attempts at humor. These elements
will keep your attention but for the most part it’s
a complete waste of talent. The best parts of the film
are the things Cecil is trying to destroy. I loved the
opening credits which were hilarious and I liked the
squashing of “Patch Adams: the Director’s
Cut” and “Gump Again” but I didn’t
find the majority of the plots surrounding the posse
very funny.
It’s
been a real long time since Waters has been fresh. “Pecker”
was easily forgotten and so will “Demented”.
(2
of 5) So Says the Soothsayer.
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