pintousmcff This movie is just dripping with humor. The acting is terrible and over-the-top but exactly appropriate for this kind of movie. The dialog is always ironic. There are no jokes in this movie, this movie is a joke. I was smiling and laughing almost immediately from the start. The perfect dagger in the heart of all those bloated, pretentious, Hollywood films. Words cannot express how much I love this movie. Divine as always, is great. It contains such classic lines as "I'm going to get an abortion and I can't wait!" A purely farcical ridiculous look at suburban American life. Silly. Nobody can ever do or has done what John Waters is doing. He has created a style and put a moat around it.

edezagon I recently had the pleasure of seeing John Waters live show followed by a screening of Polyester and we were spoiled and got the Odorama cards! Aside from Waters being hilarious on stage and wonderfully unpolitically correct, the movie is excellent. Completely offbeat, wonderful dysfunctional family, physical comedy, exaggerated characters makes this a classic comedy, even if a bit outdated. I loved it. I only gave it a 9 because of the sound quality and the slightly outdated look, albeit still excellent. Divine's performance is divine... If you didn't now it was a man, you could almost be fooled. Lulu's performance is over the top, so not very credible, but it makes it all the more funny and ludicrous. Dexter is nuts, plain and simple. One does not see this film for its true like story line, but to see over the top blown up characters that make you laugh. This does just that. However, if you ever have the chance to see Waters,' live show, do not miss it!

moonspinner55 Cult director John Waters skimmed the outskirts of mainstream film-making with "Polyester", which had a bigger budget and better distribution than his previous output--it's even got Tab Hunter in the cast! Divine is a riot as a three-hundred-pound suburban housewife who is trying to deal with her wildly dysfunctional family: her daughter is pregnant, her husband is cheating on her, and her son is a notorious criminal (he sneaks up on unsuspecting ladies and stomps on their feet!). Although the movie runs too long and eventually wears out its welcome, Waters keeps it hopping with wild, wicked energy. Tasteless, hilariously overwrought, and full of memorable sight-gags (like a picnic that gets ruined by ants). The flashing numbers on the screen related to a crazy theatrical gimmick called "Odorama". Leave it to John Waters to come up with the first scratch-and-sniff comedy. ** from ****

zetes This is almost as good as Desperate Living, my favorite Waters flick. Divine stars as a beaten-down housewife married to a philandering porno theater owner. He leaves her for Mink Stole and hounds her relentlessly. Her daughter's a knocked-up skank and her son huffs like crazy and lusts after women's feet – which he likes to stomp on. Meanwhile, her well meaning but mildly retarded friend (Edith Massey), her former maid who received a hefty inheritance and is now nouveau-riche, tries to persuade her to take part in upper class activities. Like Desperate Living, the film is absolutely hilarious. It has some of the greatest lines ever. My favorite is "Don't you know it's bad luck to let retards in your home?", although "I never wanted to use macramé to kill!" is pretty great, too (nothing quite reaching "I don't want no white man touching my tampons!" or "Your clothes are on backwards, stupid!"). The film is especially famous for using a scratch and sniff gimmick, which it calls Odorama. Few gimmicks have been funnier. Unfortunately, I couldn't play along (the scratch and sniff cards are fairly rare), but you could just imagine. It's probably funnier not to have smelled what's on screen.