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Movies / On DVD / Mommie Dearest
Mommie Dearest

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Mommie Dearest (1981)

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Reviews Counted:29

Fresh:16

Rotten:13

Average Rating:5.6/10

Runtime: 2 hrs 9 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Based on the book by her adopted daughter Christina, MOMMIE DEAREST is the now-legendary tale of Hollywood superstar Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway) and the lengths that she went to in order to... Based on the book by her adopted daughter Christina, MOMMIE DEAREST is the now-legendary tale of Hollywood superstar Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway) and the lengths that she went to in order to maintain her public image. After several screen successes, Crawford's plan to stay on top in Tinseltown includes adopting two children, Christina and Christopher, whom she plans on spoiling with love and gifts. As her career flags and her lack of success in her relationships with men chip away at her constitution, Crawford's treatment of her children becomes more and more brutal. Though this domestic horror tale is so over-the-top it that it is often celebrated as high camp, Dunaway's performance remains nothing short of astounding. [More]

Starring: Faye Dunaway, Diana Scarwid, Steve Forrest, Howard Da Silva

Starring: Faye Dunaway, Diana Scarwid, Steve Forrest, Howard Da Silva, Rutanya Alda, Mara Hobel

Director: Frank Perry

Director: Frank Perry
Screenwriter: Frank Yablans, Frank Perry, Robert Getchell
Composer: Henry Mancini

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Mommie Dearest

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1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Really no dafter, perhaps, than some of Joanie's own Warner Bros melodramas; the trouble is, it thinks it's Art.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Dunaway creates the benchmark for harridans the world over but never entirely loses sympathy for her subject. It's a constant blast of high melodrama and camp.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
10/30/07
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
09/02/03
Dan Jardine
Dan Jardine
Apollo Guide

Mommie Dearest may very well be one of the most loathsome and sloppy screen treatments to ever have been derived from a literary memoir.

Full Review Source: Cinemaphile.org | comment Comment
03/22/03
David Keyes
David Keyes
Cinemaphile.org

...relies almost entirely on Dunaway's histrionics to propel the story forward - resulting in a movie that's good for a few unintentional laughs but little else.

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
07/15/06
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

There is nothing to string the episodes together into a coherent drama, and no insight into Miss Crawford herself.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
08/30/04
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
09/19/02
Jeffrey Westhoff
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

Nightmarishly inept, inutterably depressing, but so campy it's compulsively watchable.

comment Comment
08/03/02
Jonathan R. Perry
Jonathan R. Perry
Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)

Director Frank Perry simply sits back and lets Dunaway rip. He was either supremely untalented or he purposefully intended to sabotage her.

Full Review Source: LarsenOnFilm | comment Comment
05/13/08
Josh Larsen
Josh Larsen
LarsenOnFilm

Almost as funny as legend has it

comment Comment
11/05/02
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

No review available.

comment Comment
07/29/02
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

I can't imagine who would want to subject themselves to this movie.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
10/23/04
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

As patently hilarious as you've heard. Classic B-movie camp.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
09/11/01
Scott Weinberg
Scott Weinberg
Apollo Guide

Dunaway does not chew scenery. Dunaway starts neatly at each corner of the set in every scene and swallows it whole, costars and all.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
10/30/07
Variety Staff
Variety Staff
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

'No wire hangers -- ever!' That this apparently banal phrase has now achieved something like immortality is a reflection of the unbridled extravagance of Faye Dunaway's performance.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
10/30/07
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
08/22/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Horror's got nothing on Faye Dunaway.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
07/15/01
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

Deliciously entertaining trash.

Full Review Source: FulvueDrive-in.com | comment Comment
09/28/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
FulvueDrive-in.com

It's rich, stimulating thought in spite of itself.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
10/30/07
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader

A peculiar hybrid: a high-camp Hollywood bio flick about child abuse, elevated substantially above its sordid material by Faye Dunaway's obsessively committed interpretation of legndary star Joan Crawford.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
06/20/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
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