Polyester (1981)

It's good that everything is done up in ridiculous fashion, otherwise the pranks would be too mean-spirited to sit through. Everyone comes in for their share of abuse, some funny, some not so. No doubt, the movie is strictly a matter of taste. Waters takes a shot at social mores, marriage especially. Poor wife Francine's life is in an ongoing crisis, from foot-stomping son to slutty daughter to philandering husband to abusive mother. Only gap-toothed Cuddles provides relief. That is, until handsome Tod (Hunter) cozies up. But is he too good to be true.

This may be the most kinetic movie I've seen in a while. The performers are in constant motion such that dialogue gets delivered on the fly. It's like Waters doesn't want to risk a revealing pause. I'm sure Waters would hate it, but I suspect there's a moral at work here. Namely that true repulsiveness comes from within and not from without. Note that the repulsive looking Francine and Cuddles are the most sympathetic characters, while the other more normal looking or attractive are callous in some exaggerated way. I was curious to see a Waters film since this one and others were much ballyhooed at the time. Though well made, I frankly wasn't impressed much one way or the other. But I can see why it's attracted a cult following among fans of the outrageous.

Fmovies: John Waters was still doing really outrageous movies when "Polyester" came out. Portraying suburban Baltimore housewife Francine Fishpaw's (Divine) world falling apart, the movie pulls no punches. I just wish that I could have gotten an Odorama card when I watched the movie; maybe some of the things in the movie weren't to pleasant to smell, but it would have been neat nevertheless.

What more to say? That whole sequence where the daughter was at the camp was a hoot. It just goes to show that if John Waters is all about bad taste, then he knows how to do it right. I hope that he keeps making movies forever.

In Baltimore, Francine Fishpaw (Divine) only wants to be a normal suburban housewife. The problem is that her husband Elmer shows pornos in his theater and the neighbors are demonstrating on their front lawn. Her kids are flirtatious Lu-Lu and foot-obsessed Dexter. There is a notorious Baltimore Foot Stomper on the loose. Elmer is cheating with his secretary. Dexter gets expelled from school. Lu-Lu fails every class and gets knocked up by pathetic thug Bo-Bo.

John Waters is reveling in deliberate bad acting, satirical craziness and outrageous story. It's weird and that's how he likes it but it isn't big laughs funny. It's not for everyone and it's not really even for me. The big plus of this movie is the charismatic Divine. She brings a humanity to her unreal character.

Polyester fmovies. If John Waters did nothing else in his career he created the fabulous screen team of Divine and Tab Hunter. Back in the day when he was one of Henry Willson's chiseled clients he was linked often on and off screen with Natalie Wood. Personally I think he works much better with Divine.

Polyester and it seemed everyone was wearing the fabric in 1981 in some manner is a wonderful satire on the American scene. Like Married With Children the Fishpaws are your typical American family seen with a jaundiced eye. But the Fishpaws make the Bundys look like the Cleavers.

Our leading character is Divine all 300 pounds of her who has let herself go to seed married to this bum of a husband David Samson who is getting on with his secretary. Divine is a good Christian woman who lives the middle class life due to Samson's income from a drive- in he owns where porn rules.

Her daughter Mary Garlington is the Kelly Bundy of the 80s. And her son Ken King has issues that make Bud Bundy look like the All American kid. He's not called the Baltimore Stomper for nothing.

In the end she gets shed of Samson and meets her dream man, Tab Hunter. But that's only the beginning.

Divine created some very funny characters for John Waters in her life. But they had a touch of pathos and sadness as well. This was her great strength as a performer.

Waters serves up some real funny stuff in Polyester. It's positively Divine.

I love John Waters movies. Whether it's his old or new films. He has his own strange sense of humor. In "Polyester" Devine plays down to earth overweight housewife Francine Fishpaw. Poor Francine, her husband who runs the local porn theater (pronounced thee-ater) is having an affair. Her own mother insults her constantly, her son is a glue sniffer with a foot stomping fetish and her daughter Lu-Lu is a teen rebel with an unwanted pregnancy. The only true friend Francine has is Cuddles, played by the always hilarious Edith Masey. Francine's soap opera like life spins out of control resulting in alcoholism and depression. This movie is filmed in oder-rama and the DVD comes with a scratch and sniff scent card. If you need a good laugh, you should definitely see "Polyester". And who could forget the words of young Lu-Lu? "I'm having an abortion, and I can't wait!" Don't wait .... to see this movie.

This movie had me laughing my rear off when I first saw it. I have never been a major John Waters fan. His early stuff was more grotesque than funny in my somewhat less than humble opinion. This film is delightfully offensive and hilarious. It's sort of in the 'Animal House' league of humor. Which is a nice change of pace from Waters earlier flicks.