Review of Mommie Dearest (1981) by Brett H — 15 May 2016

Mommie Dearest is the supposed true account of Hollywood actress, Joan Crawford, and her extremely unorthodox behaviour as a parent during the 1940s and beyond; all based on her daughter, Christina Crawford's memoir which she published after her mother's death.

This film has become something of a cult-classic due to its campy nature and over-the-top performances, but it's honestly too scattershot and ridiculous for me to ever want to watch again. The lead performance from Faye Dunaway, as Crawford, is the best this film has to offer, and you can tell she is really trying to give the material some gusto; the rest of the cast ranges from passable to cringe-worthy however.

The story is very touch-and-go, with no discernible scene transitions, at times feeling like each scene starts as a "Dear diary" entry from Christina's memoir because almost nothing connects fluently.

The film is broken up into two parts, with a young portrayal of the children and an adult portrayal, but neither half really works due to the film's biggest weakness: we learn absolutely no insight into who Joan Crawford was or why she behaved as she did.

As an in-depth study, the film utterly fails and we're just supposed to take what we're seeing on screen as gospel; without the evidence to back it up. It's not the worst film ever, and the few revelations we learn about Crawford are interesting (she adopted a child for publicity), but the film is so lackluster in its execution, it's no surprise that the only thing people remember about it is the infamous, "WIRE HANGERS" scene.