Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder
Author John Waters
John Waters. You either love him or hate him. Anyone who doesn’t have an opinion doesn’t know who he is. Me, I’m a huge fan.
I own all of his movies and have seen them multiple times. I’ve read all of his books. I used to own them all but someone stole my copy of Crackpot and they can rot in hell.
He’s the director that never should have made it big. He’s still as surprised as most people that any of his films went mainstream. But honestly, with the stuff people put online nowadays Pink Flamingos is hardly even shocking anymore.
It’s hard to be a shock value superstar anymore. It’s pretty played out. Every offensive joke has been made and we’ve all seen some pretty nasty stuff online. Luckily, Waters is so self aware that he doesn’t even try anymore. He stopped making movies and now just goes around talking about how he can’t believe he ever made it this far.
Mr. Know It All is part memoir and part humor book. The first section has some great trivia about all of his movies. And even some new stories that weren’t included in Shock Value. I was surprised that he thinks Cecil B Demented is one of his least beloved films by fans even though he thinks it’s great. It’s honestly my favorite and makes me laugh every time.
The whole book is mostly just lightly organized rambling about various topics Waters enjoys. When he’s not talking about his own works it can get a little meandering.
The whole section on music was disappointing to me for no other reason than that he didn’t talk about working with The Lonely Island. I love The Lonely Island, you mention your very small cameo damnit!
He has an odd perspective that we don’t see very often. An aging queen of the boomer generation with hard left politics but just a little left behind on the evolution of p.c. culture. He still tries to maintain that edge but it’s just not that edgy anymore.
If you like John Waters this book is as entertaining as any of his others. His distinct personality comes through on every page. However, if you’re not a fan this certainly won’t be converting you. He’s not for everyone, greats never are. He knows his place in cultural history and knows that others have taken over for him. But there are still bills to pay and Christmas parties to throw so he churns out an entertaining book every few years to stay relevant.
The books are basically John Waters’ only-fans.
4/5 santas 🎅🎅🎅🎅
For more humor check out Beet Life.
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Buy it here: Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder
