This Filthy World

Though it’ll undoubtedly hold more appeal for fans of John Waters – this goes without saying, as the film consists solely of 86 minutes of Waters addressing a college-aged crowd – This Filthy World is accessible enough to ensure that even the filmmaker’s detractors will likely walk away satisfied. Sporting a kitschy dinner jacket and his trademarked pencil-thin moustache, Waters takes his audience – and, by association, the viewer – on a tour of his admittedly deranged mind, offering up a whole host of stories and opinions on various subjects. Though he briefly touches on all his films – yes, Divine actually ate dog poop in Pink Flamingos – Waters generally focuses on his perverse childhood and day-to-day pet peeves. And while a lot of this stuff is genuinely funny – he notes that his current hobby is saying inappropriate things to children – there’s no getting around the film’s distinct vibe of unevenness (though, to be fair, it seems likely that Waters’ followers will find little here to complain about). And for those hoping for some dishy behind-the-scenes tales, Waters has nothing but the nicest things to say about some of the more famous folks he’s worked with (including Johnny Depp, Melanie Griffith, and even Stephen Dorff). If nothing else, however, This Filthy World makes it abundantly clear just why Waters makes the sort of films he does.

**1/2 out of ****