BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Stephen Bird Despite "Mommie Dearest" being around for nearly a decade before I was born, I have only just now got round to watching it, and despite all the negativity surrounding the film, the leading lady Faye Dunaway disowning herself from the film, the film picking up the main prize at the Golden Raspberry awards, I actually found it to be quite charming. Indeed I must see something no one else can, as I thought "Mommie Dearest" was an awesome, powerfully moving retelling of the life of Joan Crawford and the upbringing of her two adopted children. Before watching this film, I knew very little about Joan Crawford, now I feel I've been inspired to go out and watch as many of her films as I can, it's gripped me like not many films can. The way the hair and makeup department managed to get Dunaway to look like Crawford as well as they did is pretty impressive, top marks for them..., and despite not actually being there to see whether the film and the sets are faithful to real life, it really does look legit, amazing-amazing truly.The acting is dazzling and hits you where it counts, astounding display of emotion that runs deeply throughout the duration of the film and never lets go for a single heartbeat, it hooks you immediately and refuses to relinquish its powerful grasp. I am shocked and appalled at how much bad press "Mommie Dearest" has received over the years, completely unjust and horrifically unfair, what do people really want huh? It's a good old film depicting the life and times of a good old actress, maybe the actress wasn't exactly good herself, but the film certainly is. My advice is ignore the reviews, ignore the press, and just sit down and enjoy a very stylish and exciting film, people who moan about it don't know what they're missing, for shame.

Martin Bradley The movie may be a camp classic, ("Christina, bring me the axe"; "No wire hangers...EVER!"), and it is terrible but who can deny Faye Dunaway's tour-de-force. She may not always look that much like Crawford, (Dunaway never looked like anyone other than Dunaway), but her performance goes way beyond mimicry. I have no idea how true any of it is; we have to take Christina's word for it but we don't have to rely on this to know just how tough a cookie, (and how big a bitch?), Joan actually was and Joan certainly gets into her skin. Unfortunately the movie never aims high enough and we are very much in "Valley of the Dolls" territory here. Four writers may have been two or three too many and the director Frank Perry was probably not the right man for this kind of material. Still, he managed to get a couple of remarkable performances from his two Christinas, (Diana Scarwid and 10 year old Mara Hobel), though the men, especially Steve Forrest, are mostly terrible. It certainly enjoyable both as a piece of over-the-top trash and as an example of a very fine actress going a long way to making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. It's also a classic cult movie.

revjohnsobiech Mommy Dearest is a movie about Child abuse. It brakes down the wall that only "poor ghetto" people abuse their kids. Faye's performance of Joan Crawford is so real, right on and she nails it. People who are child abuse victims should see this movie. Christina's goal was to reach out to other child abuse victims and to confront child abuse head on as a victim.I have read the book Mommy Dearest . The film seems right on. Christina lives to tell her story. Some child abuse victims never make it out of their childhood alive. Ms Dunaway depiction of Joan Crawford is very believable . Child abusers are psychopaths,, cruel, evil monsters. Child abusers are in every economic class; even among the wealthy. Some Movie stars have publicly admitted to being an abusive alcoholic parent. And other stars have come out as child abuse victims. Christina was an anti child abuse advocate in LA CA . And now works with Native Americans. To read and see Christiana's story about her child abuse, has empowered many and will continue to empower child abuse victims to get help and get healing and to tell their story too. See this movie alone on DVD. I think you will be horrified. And see this movie in a totally different light.

dla_one Based on Christina Crawford's tell-all memoir of the same name dealing with her abusive relationship with her mother: Joan Crawford. Faye Dunaway as Joan, gives one of the most dreadfully over-acted performances in history. Instead of trying to give an accurate portrayal of child abuse, or making any attempt at giving a screen legend a fair and balanced portrait, showing her accomplishments along with her faults, what we get is this controversy baiting picture with very little resemblance to the actual subject. People familiar with Crawford's movies won't find much to recognize of the iconic actress here. Dunaway's Crawford is a grotesque cartoon more similar to Cruella de Vil than any real person. Her over-acting is so absurd it succeeds in making a joke of something that should be no laughing matter, the serious subject of child abuse. The validity of the claims of the memoir become irrelevant in the face of such an unbelievably over the top performance. I defy you not to bust out laughing at some of the scenes of this movie. Not surprisingly this has rendered the movie a significant cult hit because like a train-wreck it can be difficult to look away.