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Movies / On DVD / Mommie Dearest
Mommie Dearest

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Mommie Dearest (1981)

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55 %
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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 date; UK critics are listed first)
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Reviews
Tomatometer Critic Review Category
tomato

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: | comment Comment | Oct., 30 2007 05:50 PM

Channel 4 Film

splat

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jun., 24 2006 03:42 AM

Time Out

splat
1.5/4

Josh Larsen

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: | comment Comment | May., 13 2008 12:35 PM

LarsenOnFilm

tomato
4/4

Stefan Birgir Stefansson

Wire Hangers!

Full Review Source: | comment 1 Comment | Feb., 28 2008 02:12 PM

sbs.is

tomato

Dave Kehr

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 30 2007 05:49 PM

Chicago Reader

tomato

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Director Frank Perry, who collaborated with three others (including producer Frank Yablans) on the script, gives it all a certain crazed conviction.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 30 2007 05:48 PM

Chicago Reader

tomato
2.5/4

'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: | comment Comment | Oct., 30 2007 05:46 PM

TV Guide's Movie Guide

splat

Variety Staff

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: | comment Comment | Oct., 30 2007 05:44 PM

Variety

splat
1.5/4

David Nusair

...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: | comment Comment | Jul., 15 2006 03:42 AM

Reel Film Reviews

tomato
3/4

Emanuel Levy

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: | comment Comment | Jun., 20 2006 08:18 AM

EmanuelLevy.Com

tomato
4/4

Eric Henderson

Perry and Yablans fuse this formal schizophrenia with the cruelly episodic structure and fetishized period details of Hollywood biopics.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | May., 31 2006 05:00 PM

Slant Magazine

tomato
B+

Chuck O'Leary

Deliciously entertaining trash.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Sep., 28 2005 08:59 AM

FulvueDrive-in.com

tomato
4/5

Staci Layne Wilson

High camp about child abuse... oy Faye!

comment Comment | Sep., 09 2005 06:40 PM

Fantastica Daily

splat
1/4

Roger Ebert

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Oct., 23 2004 10:37 PM

Chicago Sun-Times

tomato
3/5

Steve Crum

Both sadly terrifying (child abuse to the max) and a cult classic laughfest.

comment Comment | Oct., 15 2004 06:37 PM

Kansas City Kansan

splat
2/5

Janet Maslin

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

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Aug., 30 2004 10:17 PM

New York Times

tomato
3/5

Jake Euker

No review available.

comment Comment | Jul., 02 2004 07:51 AM

F5 (Wichita, KS)

tomato

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Mommie Dearest features an intense and bold performance by Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford.

Full Review Source: | comment Comment | Jan., 31 2004 02:00 PM

Spirituality and Practice

splat
2/5

Dan Jardine

No review available.

comment Comment | Sep., 02 2003 06:55 PM

Apollo Guide

tomato
3/5

Carol Cling

No review available.

comment Comment | Aug., 22 2003 06:20 PM

Las Vegas Review-Journal

 
 
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