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Overall Rating
4.32

Awesome70.11%
Worth A Look: 11.49%
Average: 6.9%
Pretty Bad: 3.45%
Total Crap: 8.05%

1 review, 81 user ratings


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Mommie Dearest
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List Price:   $12.98
Price:   $12.49
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by nostradamus

"Fantastic! Faye Dunaway is brilliant!"
5 stars

Mommie Dearest is the ultimate film adaptation of a warts and all Hollywood tell-all biography. This is Christina Crawford’s account of what Joan Crawford, her mother, was really like, and it is devastating, not only because of its brutal account, but also in contrast to the Hollywood icon-making propaganda machine of the 1950’s.

Joan Crawford, according to the film, is a desperate perfectionist whose acting career is ultimately failing after her short-lived success as a young discovery. To boost her public image, she adopts two children, and disaster strikes as she begins to mould them to perform to the same mindnumbing perfectionist standards that she holds for herself.
We witness the years of abuse that Christina and her brother were subjected to and their own struggle to stay ‘normal’ in spite of their adoptive mother’s manipulations. We also see through Christina’s eyes, a unflattering picture of her mother consuming and controlling men, so that each relationship is doomed due to her mother’s ambition for her career, and the business success of her leading men. Her mother’s battle with drink, dieting and dirt are highlighted again and again in the dramatic saga. In the end, Christina and her brother are cut off from the family fortune, in a last slap in the face effort for them to understand the need to survive on their own, to rise to fortune from rags as their mother did.

Faye Dunaway, stars as Joan Crawford throughout the film, and she is absolutely brilliant in conveying an aging neurotic movie star bent on self-destruction. This is by far the best performance of her career and is definitely worth seeing on that account alone. If you believe Christina Crawford, Mommie Dearest is a devastating, sad portrayal of child abuse, but there are many more levels of irony and hypocrisy to this drama. From Christina’s experiences, we also see a woman coming of age against the odds, and the complexity of human relationships and ambitions against a backdrop of tragedy and fear. If you like biography or the story behind the stars of screen, this is a movie not to be missed.

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link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=1499&reviewer=144
originally posted: 10/06/99 10:04:25
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User Comments

12/26/09 art THE HIGHLIGHT OF THIS MOVIE is THE INFAMOUS WIRE HANGER SCENE! 3 stars
5/26/07 Kimberly Dull Great movie! A classic. 5 stars
2/01/07 kelli i love this movie 5 stars
9/13/06 William Goss The camp is fun for the first half, but runs out of steam in the second. Worth seeing once. 2 stars
10/29/04 ODH The flick is OK, Dunaway plays Joan Crawford brilliantly as a raving looney!!! 3 stars
9/26/04 Bucky Buckner Boone Mix some Box Office Poison w/some Hollywood Royalty and wimpy Carol Ann and you get this! 5 stars
8/04/04 Katie this movie is okay, i've seen MUCH better! 3 stars
7/31/04 nancy markee loved the film alot like my life in a way 5 stars
6/30/04 Barbara Please I don't ask much from you, girl! 5 stars
6/05/04 Miss Crawford I'm not mad at the review...I'm MAD.. AT.. THE.. DIRT! 5 stars
4/02/04 re a awesome film 5 stars
1/15/04 Betty White Dunaway is magnificant, and the one-liners are quite memorable. 5 stars
12/06/03 Red a great film it made me respect how great my mom is 5 stars
10/09/03 JimmyC Don't Fuck with me Fellas!!!! 5 stars
6/14/03 Alice Great acting, great movie ! Dunnaway wow. 5 stars
5/10/03 Andrew Carden Realistic and Nostalgic Telling Of Crawford's Zany Life. Dunaway Is Brilliant. 5 stars
4/19/03 Daniel Wild Tina, fetch me the axe..... What a scene! 5 stars
3/26/03 mr. Pink No more wirehangers...EVER!!!!!!!!!!! 5 stars
3/11/03 Donna Groom mentally scarey 5 stars
3/05/03 Chad Gordon I LOVE this movie! It really caught my attention the first time I watched it. 5 stars
2/28/03 G. GRATTON SELF SERVING 1 stars
2/07/03 amanda loved it 5 stars
1/12/03 James Hanan I think that this film is great because we all need to know the truth and this film is all 5 stars
1/08/03 R.W. Welch Sudsy and overwrought, but fairly interesting material. 3 stars
1/08/03 Jones The only reason I'm giving this a "Fucking Awesome" is because of the strangling scene. 5 stars
11/25/02 Misty Walker i loved faye dunaway in this movie she is so dramatic 5 stars
10/03/02 AnnJean This is a great movie I think you should watch it!! 5 stars
9/24/02 Me Lies and more lies from a wannabee 1 stars
9/21/02 I Can't Swim GO BACK! STRAP YOURSELF IN! 5 stars
9/14/02 CJ GREAT MOVIE! 5 stars
9/13/02 shelley it is great!!!! the best movie ever!!!! 5 stars
9/11/02 Christy wow 5 stars
9/04/02 Barbi Satin Gave me nightmares but a fantastic film. 5 stars
9/04/02 Georgey Brilliant!!!! Creepy hairbrush spanking through! 5 stars
8/02/02 JANET CREIGHTON Bad portrait of a great movie star... What about the other children ? 1 stars
7/19/02 brando tina! bring me the axe! 5 stars
5/31/02 isaiah loved it!!! 5 stars
5/23/02 Butterbean Some of the best lines come from this movie. Meow just quoted one. 4 stars
4/25/02 meow Tear down that bitch of a wall and but a window where it ought to belong! 5 stars
4/14/02 jfw I'm not acting... I'm not acting.... 5 stars
1/01/02 Daniel don't drink Greg "I don't want whiskey on your breath 5 stars
12/31/01 austin NO WIRE HANGERS CHRISTINA....MOMMY WHAT? 5 stars
12/04/01 Bada Bing Crosby YOU PUT A $300 DRESS ON A WIRE HANGER! 5 stars
11/27/01 cb23 camp at it's best!!! 4 stars
10/24/01 Jenna I absolutely loved it!!!!!! 5 stars
9/02/01 SAM PICA good to fair 4 stars
8/08/01 taloncav Superb! My friends and I gather on Sundays to watch and laugh our asses off. 5 stars
7/28/01 melany casey awesome 5 stars
6/20/01 Elvisfan Go back! Strap yourself in! Right next to "Valley of the Dolls" for camp supreme 5 stars
5/11/01 El Young Loved it! One of the best Hollywood bios! 5 stars
4/29/01 Drum and bass ninja JOAN ROCKS! 5 stars
4/22/01 Gingerwoman The first time I had seen anything like my own mother on TV was fascinating. 4 stars
4/21/01 *~Danielle*Ophelia~* (formerly KyLe*BrOfLoVsKi) So putrid I couldn't take my eyes off it. I laughed till my ovaries hurt at the acting. 2 stars
4/19/01 ddd this is the best campy fairytale ever told 5 stars
4/16/01 mzthang721 This movie was byast. Joan is not here to defend herself. 1 stars
2/28/01 Good Taste A disturbing, pointless, hateful piece of shit movie. One of the worst ever made. Fuck 1 stars
2/04/01 Avenger girl She was a child abusing bitch if this is a true account,Dunaway is great as always. 4 stars
1/12/01 jp She was a TOTAL nut case! She shouldn't have been allowed to have ANY children. 4 stars
1/06/01 Al ungrateful daughter seeking only money and to destroy her adoptive mother any way she could 1 stars
12/03/00 funkydiva15 it had some cheesy moments but faye dunaway even scared me 3 stars
11/27/00 Captain Cosmic Loved it. Dunaway was awesome in the role of Joan Crawford. 5 stars
11/22/00 chad edwards Dunaway is so good she makes you think she really is Crawford! 5 stars
11/21/00 MongoKen "Doing things on your own is BEST...don't you agree Tina?!" 5 stars
10/17/00 hum when it comes to over the top trash this is one of the best 4 stars
9/24/00 Doug Do not fuck with me fellas 5 stars
9/19/00 Bill Bonnell That used to make you look sexy, not it makes you look drunk 5 stars
9/02/00 Mikey When you polish the floor, you have to MOVE the TREE! 5 stars
7/16/00 Mani A piece of trash written by a jealous,ungreatful,and vindictive daughter 1 stars
3/24/00 Sharon Hooper Great performance by Ms. Dunaway. Good movie. 4 stars
2/21/00 Tina Tina, fetch me the axe! 4 stars
2/17/00 Bozo Why can't you treat me like I would be treated by any stranger on the street? 5 stars
11/19/99 Jason A Frayer awsome 5 stars
10/23/99 Cristie This movie was the best. 5 stars
10/15/99 Ed Washington "This is my favorite film of all times" 5 stars
10/07/99 DarkHorse I thought the movie unintentionally hilarious. Campy to say the least... 3 stars
10/06/99 strike NO MORE WIRE-HANGERS!! 4 stars
10/06/99 the Grinch This scared the hell out of me! True horror, really conveys child's fragility/vulnerability 5 stars
7/17/99 soccer_mum No Metal Hangers!!!!! Dunaway is convincing as the twisted Crawford. Loved it! 5 stars
4/19/99 amndakjsh I want a mommie like that. 5 stars
4/04/99 Albert I should've known you'd know where to find the boys... AND the booze! 5 stars
1/20/99 Vick Di Brecci Faye Dunaway was perfect casting but she and the movie were too overwrought for my tastes 2 stars
IF YOU'VE SEEN THIS FILM, RATE IT!
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USA
  18-Sep-1981 (PG)
  DVD: 06-Jun-2006

UK
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Australia
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