Review of Female Trouble (1976) by Joe T — 17 May 2007

A snarling juggernaut of glamour, dismemberments, appetizers made of false eyelashes, phonebook-shredding mayhem and fury, John Waters finest achievement still thrills today's modern viewers. Containing many of cinema's finest lines of dialogue ever, this geyser of proto-punk snottiness will slap you in the nuts, strike you soundly about the face and head with a dead mackerel and then tell you that even though you got them big udders, you ain't somethin' special. Get the hook!

The scene of Divine rampaging through skeezy/beautiful downtown Baltimore in the claw-armed aqua-shimmer-bodysuit is truly one of cinema's most thrilling moments. This is why I go to the movies. These are the kinds of magical otherworlds I want movies to take me to.

Edith Massey tops her Pink Flamingos dementia with a truly-unhinged turn as the revenge-crazed Aunt Ida. Massey throws herself into both her performance as well as a peek-a-boo leather-laceup number that must be seen to be believed. The woman was a caterwauling force of nature, but kinda retarded, but kinda huggable at the same time, which is really pretty charming.

If you've never seen any Waters and want a bracing face-full of his finest, I'd say start here. Pink Flamingos, while more notorious (and still hilarious), isn't near this acerbic, manic or deranged...Female Trouble is a truly insurrectionary trashtastic classic.