Featured Audience Ratings

• Spencer S

  
  This film is the worst kind of exploitation flick possible, and it was taken seriously in production no less! Today billed as a camp classic, and advertised as such once it was discovered for it's ludicrous content, Mommie Dearest is synonymous with bad taste and over-acting.… More
  This film is the worst kind of exploitation flick possible, and it was taken seriously in production no less! Today billed as a camp classic, and advertised as such once it was discovered for it's ludicrous content, Mommie Dearest is synonymous with bad taste and over-acting. This goes especially for lead Faye Dunaway, who portrays screen legend Joan Crawford. Based off of Crawford's adopted daughter Christina Crawford's tell-all memoir of the same name, most of the film is comprised of scenes showing Crawford abusing her daughter physically and emotionally. The film centers on the tumultuous life of the actress, who suffered from alcoholism and may have also, had a bipolar disorder. Dunaway has complained that director Frank Perry didn't know how to rein in actor's over performing and how true that statement is. Dunaway is out of control throughout, and though many actions are cruel, villainous stages of abuse, at times you feel reviled for watching something so outrageous and unrealistic. It's certainly not laugh out loud funny, because the subject is so horrible and Dunaway does do a decent job of implying the actress' sullen manner. The movie also suffers from the fact that none of the events shown have true credibility, as friends, co-stars, and an ex-husband of the screen legend have argued against the claims of the book. The film itself is very cheap looking, sets and costumes looking second-hand, wigs and backdrops almost painted on. The performances from the children are actually laughable, and the scenes of the beatings often look like a madwoman pummeling a pillow. Bits of this are incoherent and often things aren't explained in a helpful manner, which makes it difficult to piece together the true nature of the film or its content. By the middle I and my boyfriend were betting on what atrocious act would come next. From Joan Crawford's beatings, to her impeccable housekeeping, to wielding a large axe to cut down a sapling, to yelling hoarse over wire hangers, there's just too much awkward tumult for anyone to take this seriously. Actually, one feels bad for the screen siren, her daughter, and Faye Dunaway, who went as far as putting on three hours' worth of makeup to look authentic for this film. (And does) It's just a sad waste, and a bigger waste of time.

• Carlos M

  
  A narratively disjointed and episodic adaptation that is basically for those who are curious to know how was Joan Crawford's abusive relationship with her daughter, who wrote the book this film is based on. The exploitative story makes no effort in character development, but Faye… More
  A narratively disjointed and episodic adaptation that is basically for those who are curious to know how was Joan Crawford's abusive relationship with her daughter, who wrote the book this film is based on. The exploitative story makes no effort in character development, but Faye Dunaway is great in a histrionic, over-the-top performance.

• AJ V

  
  A fantastic drama with great actors, and a great story, I loved it, and I highly recommend it.

• Jeremy S

  
  Faye Dunaway is suberb as Joan Crwaford, in this scary and sometimes over the top autobiography. "No wire hangers, ever!"

• Cindy I

  
  Giving this more stars than it deserves just because it's so campy and bad, but SO VERY entertaining.

• Curtis L

  
  When Joan freaked out it was very fun, but there are lots of drawn out sequences that we could have lived without.

• Veronique K

  
  mommie dearest is one of the classic camps which is so legendarily awful that it could be called "phenomenonal"...lol. the notorious tales of joan crawford's evil maternality has been widely known already thanks to faye dunaway's overacting in "mommie… More
  mommie dearest is one of the classic camps which is so legendarily awful that it could be called "phenomenonal"...lol. the notorious tales of joan crawford's evil maternality has been widely known already thanks to faye dunaway's overacting in "mommie dearest" that could be considered one of the most successfully excercised disparage ever in cinematic history. it's so malaciously achieved that i must announce that christina crawford herself is evil, draining the essence of the dead from the graveyard of her "adopted mother". crawford had a reputation of being brittle and hard-boiled to the bone, but she was also a glamour queen before the 50s, just reminiscent the fashion icons she had built with her stylish idiocyncracy, and her husky tone of voice which provokes defying sensuality thru her bold brazen attitudes. obviously none of those advantages is transpired in faye dunaway's caricature of crawford. dunaway's campy performance obliterates every remnant of crawford's beauty in audience's memories. each move she had made in it looks grotesquely clumsy, and her contorted face appear lunaticly horrorsome with each line of her wrinkles over carven in her complexion. of course, i must complain to the cosmetic apartment about dunaway's crawfordian eyebrows which seems really dramaticly exaggerated just to mock the dated fashion then, but even joan crawford herself didn't look so "twisted"...dunaway attempted to lower her vocal into the low-pitch smoldering smoker sound which was popular sign of glamour for movie stars then, dunaway did nothing but growl like a crude beast. if you view those old crawford flicks, she did have her unique way to deliver those lines with punctured shrewdness. "mommie dearest" certainly does a good job at defaming joan crawford, further more, it's sinister uglification to a tough surviving woman who exerts herself literarily to her tombstone. but i gotta admit the axe-swaying scene which is blandly stolen from crawford's 50s camp "strait-jacket" is absolutely hilarious. maybe gutsy females are easy targets to attack, even after her demise, you could still snatch her corpse out to whip it, for your private indulgement as well as your angst toward contemporary cultural effemination.

• Lafe F

  
  A hard movie to watch. Joan Crawford was such a monster to her children - she should've been cast from Hollywood. Faye Dunaway does a great performance.

• jay n

  
  a freak show from start to finish and totally fascinating

• Matthew R

  
  Joan Crawford was a monster but Faye Dunaway makes her a monster with a heart...almost. I think this is the best performance of her career, and that's a big compliment since she's starred in three famous films, "Bonnie and Clyde", "Network", and… More
  Joan Crawford was a monster but Faye Dunaway makes her a monster with a heart...almost. I think this is the best performance of her career, and that's a big compliment since she's starred in three famous films, "Bonnie and Clyde", "Network", and "Chinatown". She won Oscar nominations for all of those films and took home the prize for "Network." Yet "Mommie Dearest" is the breathing baby I see as Dunaway's triumph. The story is set through the memoirs of Christina Crawford, and though Frank Perry's direction is flawed and stagey, the performance by Dunaway seals it up as one of the best camp classics of all time. And heck, who can forget that wire hanger scene, she looked like a crazy nut. Mommie Dearest seems stagey at times but thrives with Dunways fantastic performance. Story: B Acting: A Direction: C Visuals: B Overall: B *** out of 4 stars

• Cinema F

  
  This is a film about Joan Crawford's relationship with her adopted children. Played by Faye Dunaway in the central role--she looks the 'perfect' star to represent Crawford--square shoulder, the arched eyebrows, the v-shaped mouth, and when Dunaway stares, her eyes are… More
  This is a film about Joan Crawford's relationship with her adopted children. Played by Faye Dunaway in the central role--she looks the 'perfect' star to represent Crawford--square shoulder, the arched eyebrows, the v-shaped mouth, and when Dunaway stares, her eyes are like basilisks. In Mommie Dearest--the emotions are so splendid, the scenes so dramatic and the experiences so brilliant. This is a serious film, in no way designed to be deliberately funny and yet with Dunaway's portrayal of a haunted and bitter woman, the film is a comic masterpiece by accident. Joan Crawford was clearly terrified of failure, and it was this fear that drove her to the kind of bizarre perfectionism and competitiveness which marked her life.

• Alec B

  
  NO WIRE HANGERS . . . EVER!!!! Any film that was named worst picture of the 1980's is definately worth seeing. The last half is kinda boring, but the first half with the insane meltdowns and way over the top acting are hilarious. The film then tries to take itself too seriously… More
  NO WIRE HANGERS . . . EVER!!!! Any film that was named worst picture of the 1980's is definately worth seeing. The last half is kinda boring, but the first half with the insane meltdowns and way over the top acting are hilarious. The film then tries to take itself too seriously after we have just been bombarded by images of this woman going insane. As for being worst picture of the 1980's, there are far worse films out there, trust me. Well anyway . . . -"I think your over reacting Miss Crawford. -"WELL I THINK YOUR UNDER REACTING!!!" Now that is quality writting.

• Sunil J

  
  To be honest, I really hate this over the top campfest.

• Wu C

  
  Not bad, but not great. If the stories of Joan Crawford as portrayed here are accurate, she was a real heartless woman. Dunaway is great, but she disowned the film after it bombed.

• Robert F

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

• Lee K

  
  I loved this bio pic to death, A scary and apparently accurate look into Joan Crawford and she abused her daughter. Faye Dunaway was absolutly brilliant in the starring role.

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