Mommie Dearest (1981)

Directed by Frank Perry
 

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.