John Waters will always be king of the annual Maryland Film Festival: His Friday-night pick, a tradition since MFF1 in 1999, always brings in the crowds, frequently for a movie no one's ever heard of. This year's Love Songs was no exception.

But this year found Waters happily sharing the spotlight with Bobcat Goldthwait, whose World's Greatest Dad, starring Robin Williams as a put-upon father who exploits his son's infamy in some unusual ways, had the crowd roaring with laughter (some of it uncomfortable laughter, but that's OK) Saturday night.

The movie, which is expected to go into wide release later this year (probably in the fall), was subversive in the proud Waters tradition, wringing laughs out of some pretty non-traditional sources (like suicide and Internet porn).

Atfer the screening, Waters rose to his feet to tell Goldthwait, "This is your best movie, and you're going to have a very big hit."

Goldthwait, who could be seen in the audience at several movies during his three-day festival stay, seemed genuinely touched by both Waters' approval and the audience's warm reception. He told the Charles audience that he broke into tears at their reaction, and he wasn't kidding.

"I love it when people enjoy this movie," he said afterward, "especially when they laugh in places where I want them to laugh."

Photo of John Waters and Bobcat Goldthwait by Chris Kaltenbach