Pink Flamingos
Saliva Films | Release Date: March 17, 1972 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
1
Negative:
3

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
In Pink Flamingos, Waters did something subversive and, in its gross way, quite spectacular: He created his own hell-bent, sick-joke Oz, with Divine as its wicked-witch queen. Read full review
80
EmpireChristopher Hemblade
John Waters was way ahead of his time with this corruscating '70s vision of small-town Americana. Read full review
80
CineVueAdam Lowes
Pink Flamingos remains a delightfully repugnant cinematic treasure. Watching Divine as she struts her stuff amongst the genuinely dumbfounded residents of downtown Baltimore, perfectly encapsulates with Waters was reaching for with the film. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
The improbable star of this ultra-low budget cinematic gross-out is 300-pound transvestite Divine, whose willingness to do virtually anything in front of the camera, along with an undeniable screen presence, made Pink Flamingos a favorite on the campus and midnight-movie circuits. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Almost anyone could dig up and film someone with the ability to lip-synch using his a**hole, but it takes genius to set the scene to Surfin' Bird. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Pink Flamingos is, in its own unique way, the quintessential American Family Film. Not my family, certainly, and probably not yours, but a family nonetheless. So here's to family values. And shock values, too. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesMark Chalon Smith
One thing you can say for Pink Flamingos, it has a frat party chumminess, even at its most repulsive. In the late '60s and through the '70s, Waters used the same gang of pals for his ensemble, and that created a kind of "let's get down and dirty together" camaraderie. Read full review
20
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
Waters raids de Sade in pursuit of extremes, but the difference between him and Warhol (or that other arch-exponent of extreme disgust, Otto Muehl) is that Waters' grotesquerie is decidedly trivial. Read full review
0
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Around the above premise spins the nitwit plot of the poorly lensed 16mm picture Pink Flamingos – one of the most vile, stupid and repulsive films ever made. Read full review
0
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
John Waters' Pink Flamingos has been restored for its 25th anniversary revival, and with any luck at all that means I won't have to see it again for another 25 years. If I haven't retired by then, I will. Read full review
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