ROTTEN TOMATOES: Best and Worst Movie Moms

Best and Worst Movie Moms

RT celebrates Mother's Day with our favorite good (and evil) cinematic moms.

by RT Staff | May 09, 2008

Summary

From nurturing and strong to manipulative and murderous, moms do some crazy things in the interest of protecting (or betraying) their brood, and this list -- hotly contested in the RT office, by the way -- features five good eggs and as many rotten, with a few honorable mentions and iffy selections thrown in for good measure. Back to Article

(1-20 of 27 posts) | Reply

jokerboy1991 writes:
on May 09 2008 07:04 PM

Great list... I just wish that one mom who yelled "WIRED HANGERS!!!", that wouldve been funny. Also just saw Speed Racer Mamma Racer was petty cool mom. Or that lady in "the fly", I mean come on giving bearth to a kid that might be a fly! Now thats a loving mother.

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Sputnik99 writes:
on May 09 2008 07:53 PM

What about Leia Thompson (sp?) in the Back to the Future Movies? Would she count as a good or a bad mom?

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blattman writes:
on May 09 2008 08:35 PM

I am shocked and appalled that Glen Close's performance as Jenny Garp in The World According to Garp did not make the list. What an incredible mom. How about Stella Dallas? What a parental sacrifice

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jokerboy1991 writes:
on May 09 2008 09:36 PM

Oh lol.. I just thought about the mom in Dazed and Confused who pulls the shotgun out on Ben Afleck for chasing after her kid.

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jokerboy1991 writes:
on May 09 2008 09:37 PM

Or Ralphy's mom in the Christmas story, not telling the dad ralphy beat up a kid or getting the younger brother eat by saying "show me how the piggies eat"

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Testicular_Cancer writes:
on May 10 2008 01:08 AM

Well, except Helen DIDN'T leave Jack-Jack with the babysitter; she left him with Dash and Violet. Dash and Violet left Jack with the babysitter. (Also, Jack-Jack wasn't manifesting any unusual abilities up to that point.)

But yeah, I'd give top honors to Helen just for the "real-life bad guys won't hesitate to kill you" and "protect your identity" speeches to Dash and Vi in the cave. She told them the truths they needed to hear, but coming from Holly Hunter it didn't sound so harsh.

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dracula68 writes:
on May 10 2008 01:19 AM

Hey this was supposed to be a list of Best AND Worst movie moms. We only got the best (*yawn*) now what about the bad ones (YAY!)

1) James Cagney's mom in "White Heat"
2) Damien's mom in "The Omen". Because she's dead. So she don't smell too good. And she's a jackal.

3) Mary Tyler Moore in "Ordinary People". Because nothing says "I'm your mom so of course I don't blame you for your brother's death" like martinis, a cleaning fetish, and ten tons of denial.

4) Lady Macbeth. Now of course she wasn't a mom but she said that if she was a mom she'd "Change her milk for gall" and "bash its brains against the rocks" showing that combination of diet AND discipline

5) The Mother in "The Godfather" -- especially in Part 2. We only ever see her once very briefly when she's talking to Connie, but it's when Fredo confesses to his brother "mom always told me I was left at the doorstep by gypsies" that we're witness to the kind of passive emotional cruelty that hurts to depths only a bad mother is capable of delivering.

And I can only conclude this list by saying

LOOK AT ME, MA! TOP OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!!

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dracula68 writes:
on May 10 2008 01:24 AM

Okay NOW I see there was a page 2 to that article (DUH, DOI!). Well, my list kicks a-- too.

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tomwaitsjr writes:
on May 10 2008 08:03 AM

Elaine Robinson was a great Milf. She was actually only a few years older than Hoffman. . .

I HATE FORREST GUMP! HIS MOM SHOULD HAVE HAD AN ABORTION!

And, Diane Keaton in GodFather II was cool. . . "I had an abortion, and it was a boy!"

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

You guys also forgot the Mom in Boogie Nights.

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caboose388 writes:
on May 10 2008 10:07 AM

I was kinda hoping to see the lil old lady from Stop or My Mom Will Shoot, that was the kind of mother I always wanted, the Uzi wielding kind

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Tim Ryan writes:
on May 10 2008 10:22 AM

In reply to this comment (#1728140)
Check page two for your wire hangers fix.

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RedRing writes:
on May 10 2008 02:03 PM

I would have guessed Jason Voorhee's mother would have made it (or now that I think about it.. maybe Freddy's mom in the good category :p )

But I DID successfully guess Mrs. Bates and Serial Mom .

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skletonkee writes:
on May 10 2008 03:24 PM

This list is nothing without Jobeth Williams for best mom. NOTHING!!!

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dracula68 writes:
on May 10 2008 04:39 PM

In reply to this comment (#1729106)
Did we ever really hear that much about Freddie Krueger's mom? Oh, yeah, that's right. She got herself locked up with mental patients for that weekend. And then Dad turned out to be Alice Cooper. Son of a mental patient and a rock star -- your life would be one long VH1 special.

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jokerboy1991 writes:
on May 10 2008 06:38 PM

In reply to this comment (#1728792)
Oh cool.

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wiggins writes:
on May 10 2008 07:46 PM

jennifer griffiths in blow.

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agniyo writes:
on May 10 2008 11:15 PM

You don't mean Elaine Robinson, should be on the list, do you? You mean that MRS. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) should be, right?

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agniyo writes:
on May 10 2008 11:20 PM

You don't mean Elaine Robinson, should be on the list, do you? You mean that MRS. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) should be, right?

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kikuchiyosesa writes:
on May 11 2008 09:27 AM

Best mom #7....... Michael Keaton in Mr. Mom!

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BluMizu writes:
on May 11 2008 12:58 PM

Faye Dunaway was so good in "Mommie Dearest" that people actually thought was WAS Joan Crawford...

Great performance.

And 100 points has been added to the house of whoever noted that Mrs. Parr ( Elasti-Girl/ Mrs. Incredible) DIDN'T leave Jack- Jack with the baby sitter.

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