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Powerful

As Good As It Gets

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Desperate living has got to be the most horrible, sickening, disturbing piece of **** I',ve ever seen. First, the freaks (calling them freaks instead of people is a lot more accurate) in this movie don't just talk to each other, they shriek and yell, continuously! Second, none of the sex in this film has any love or nice arousle to it, it's all sick and perverted. Then comes the very worst of all. Third, a man actually starts cutting off his penis and we see him doing it close up!!!! Fourth, the fat bitch queen, who is ugly and cruel throughout the movie, actually gets cooked in a big oven and we see her being carried out all cooked whole on a large platter, with her face still visible in all cooked form!!!! And the other movie characters call this their big, celebrated roast!!!! I have never seen anything like this in my life!!! This is not a movie, it's over an hour of the sickest most demented **** that would only be of desire to someone who's mind is disturbed. And worst of all, I can NOT believe how many people gave this horrible sick **** great reviews, like 8 and 10 ratings! I've seen many more bad, ugly reviews for all those wonderful, sweet 1940s musicals (i.e. "Till the clouds roll by, which a lot of people called saccharine and annoyingly sicky sweet) than I have for this sick, disturbing trash. That just says something right there about the mentality of people in today's society! People are a different species in the 21st century than they were in the 1930s - 1950s.

DESPERATE LIVING is an hilarious assault on "good taste" and the last real John waters film before he went mainstream in the '80s. This "Alice In Wonderland on acid" cartoon full of "sex & savagery" (not to mention necrophilia, incest, and cannibalism) kicks off when suburban mom Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) goes on the lam with her 400 lb. maid after the hefty domestic kills the man of the house by sitting on him. "Thelma & Louise" make their way to Mortville, a safe haven for criminals ruled over by the megalomanical nymphomaniac Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey) but as Mole the lesbian points out, "it isn't very pretty what a town without pity can do" and they land right smack in the middle of a dictatorship ripe for bloody revolution.I wouldn't watch something like this unless I was stoned and at first it was so shrill (with everybody screaming until I thought I'd get a headache) but once I started laughing I couldn't stop right up until the hysterical, anarchic ending. There's as many inventive deaths and set- piece slaying in this movie as there are in any good giallo and that kept me happy, too. I think the reason why I never tried too hard to track DESPERATE LIVING down before was because Divine wasn't in it but former Hollywood glamor girl and Mickey Cohen moll Liz Renay more than made up for it. Liz was an ex- con and a stripper at that point in her life and had no problem shedding her inhibitions to run around nude, bend over to have the queen kiss her butt, or get raped by her lesbian lover after a sex-change operation. I'm sorry I waited so long to see this -it's outrageous fun!

This film is a true gem. For followers of sleazy cinema, this is a must- see that will never lose its entertainment value.A rich neurotic housewife kills her husband in a fit, with the help of her maid. Now the duo have to escape and take up a new life in Mortville, a slum-like trash community made up of filthy criminals, perverts and other oddballs. The inhabitants are harassed daily by the gruesome Queen Carlotta, and have to make the best out of their desperate, feeble lives.What is striking about this film is that it has a self-ironic feel, I don't know whether it is intentional or not. Every part of the story is over-the-top for a reason, and John Waters certainly makes use of "more is more".Most of the acting is mediocre at best, but it all comes together perfectly for that trashy feel. Mink Stole is hilarious as Peggy Gravel, she plays her neurotic character without flaw.Even though the acting, the story, the budget and everything else is as bad as you'd expect, the film is extremely humorous and the actors have enough comical timing to make you laugh again and again. This in combination with the irony of it all made me appreciate the film on a whole other level than similar sleaze-productions.The most interesting aspect of this film however, is its gender perspective. All the important characters are -without exceptions- women, the men are nothing but objects or servants in this film. Apart from regular Hollywood productions, there is lots of diversity among the female characters, and everyone is equally filthy. There are lots of elements in the movie to strengthen the image that Mortville is ruled by females; the Queen and her male servants/sex slaves, the beating up of males by females, and extensive lesbianism. John Waters paints a picture that is, again, far from today's supermodel standards, where females rule and are free to be as disgusting or beautiful as they want.I highly recommend this film to anyone who would like to watch something different, because it's way underrated.

The only John Waters film to date set in what is virtually an alternate universe -- the town of Mortville, Maryland -- a disgusting shantytown that inexplicably is governed by its own fascist Empress (Edith Massey), who is both cruel and unusual, and who lives in a Disneyland-like castle. This film is hard-core, undistilled Waters, working in his Classic Period that includes "Pink Flamingos" (his breakthrough film) and "Female Trouble" (possibly his greatest work). Filming without his leading lady/leading man, Divine, "Desperate Living" emerges as more of an ensemble film featuring notorious Hollywood starlet Liz Renay, Waters regular Mink Stole, and Jean Hill, discovered and making a striking debut herein. "Desperate Living" is audacious and fevered and yet has a naive quality to it, typical of Waters' artistic charm. Filmed on a shoestring budget, the film benefits from creative and eye-filling sets by Vince Peranio and costumes by Van Smith. It is a fusion of the surreal, the self-consciously rude and outrageous, and an homage to bad movies past. Acted out in a raucous, strident fashion favored by the director that punches every word across with triple exclamation points, "Desperate Living" is the pinnacle of Waters' wild style. It was followed by a comparatively more demure "Polyester" with Divine returning to the starring role, toned down for wider audience appeal. Needless for me to add, this film isn't for everyone nor was it meant to be, as is obvious right from the opening credits.