So much average

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

The first must-see film of the year.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Mommie Dearest is a slow, overacted, boring biopic about a fairly uninteresting person. I understand why this may have camp value, but I don't plan on watching it ever again. With the exception of the "wire hangers" scene, this movie wasn't even worth the first watch.

It's somewhat difficult to truly tell who is the real victim here, Mother or Daughter? Joan Crawford adopted 5 children in all and only two (one blatantly in print) claimed abusive treatment by her. And of course, the one claiming the most abuse is one that was left out of Miss Crawford's estate - bitter revenge or truth? Seems that an equal number of friends and industry people have testified to completely differing views of these claims - making it very difficult to be certain either way. In director/co-writer Frank Perry's movie version of the book, so much important information is left out of Joan's life & what's left in - tends to be an over emphasise on the eccentricities and drinking problems - leaving the viewer with a rather lopsided view. It's as if this picture just may have been made for or by, those with an axe to grind. Perry's direction is heavy handed - often rather leaden and the film goes on too long - his direction of Dunaway is at times absent - allowing her to go over the top (although, she is not as bad as some have made out). It's an unpleasant movie but, maybe one that allows us to glimpse the levels of unpleasantness - that permeates the movie world and those who people these circles - on both sides of the screen.

Mommie Dearest is a film based on the book of the same title written by Joan Crawford's daughter, Christina Crawford. This film and the book it is based off of tells the story of how Joan Crawford behaved behind closed doors with her children, how she abused them, had crazy/wild outbursts, which sometimes turned violent. In my honest opinion, mommie dearest is very well acted, Faye Dunaway blew me away in her brutally honest portrayal of Hollywood legend Joan Crawford. In the beginning, we are introduced to ms Crawford as a young actress, at the height of her career, working at Metro Goldwyn Mayer, no children, and two divorces. She applies to an adoption agency, but her application is denied, so she goes through some loopholes, pulls some strings, and adopts her daughter, Christina, and then her son Christopher. Throughout the film Joan is depicted by Dunaway as a self obsessed, selfish, child abusing alcoholic that never really gives her love to her children. In many scenes, a teenage Chrisrina tries desperately to gain her mothers love, but she never really receives it. The chemistry between Joan and Christina is good here and the acting is very dramatic and very intense, as it should be. I don't exactly understand some of the negative reviews this movie has received both when it first came out and over the years. I think mommie dearest is a well made and well acted film telling the very sad true story of actress Joan Crawford and her private life and strained relationships with her children with with whom she woefully mistreated. 8/10 for mommie dearest.

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.