Polyester is definitely one of Waters's best films, and I highly recommend attending an 'Odorama' screening for a unique night at the movies.

Polyester may be one of the few times when Waters tried to expand his cinematic language at the expense of his usual verbal variety

He makes you endure the grossest of the gross and you still laugh through the whole thing

Like a Fassbinder or Douglas Sirk movie made by John Waters, it is a mess with all his trademark filth, irritating overacting and ridiculous lack of structure and focus, and I guess it would be only amusing and worth seeing in the cinema for the Odorama scratch-and-sniff gimmick.

I think that "Polyester" is John Waters' best movie. "Female Trouble" may have been funnier, but I prefer the elements in this softer creation to that earlier, meaner-spirited film. "Polyester" was the director's bridge between his last bad taste epic, "Desperate Living" (which was also great) and his first attempt at something mainstream, "Hairspray". So, what I think happened was a decrescendo of creative emotion. John Waters still has something to say about the lower middle-class here, but he used up the angry parts of his perspective when he was younger. Still, he wasn't quite ready for parody... In "Polyster", I suspect that the director wanted to utilize aspects of the culture that he had affection for. For one thing, Divine never played a more sympathetic character, and she was teamed up with Edith Massey, who was, in my opinion, the most memorable and lovable and enjoyable of all of the Waters' group. I think it's closer to call "Polyester" a tongue in cheek comedy than a satire. What's so funny about "Polyester" is how everybody acts around Francine, who is extremely kind, but ineffectual and dopey. Why is everybody so pre-occupied with tormenting her? I love how LaRue gets increasingly demented. And nobody can act humiliated and put-upon like Divine... Also, the sets are very warm and pleasant - I actually loved the Fishpaw house. Warm, funny, funny movie...