Why wasn't Mommie Dearest taken more seriously?

It should have won for Best Picture.

Faye's acting was too subtle.

Too much swearing!

I would like an adaptation of Marlene Dietrich's daughter biography, Maria Riva. I loved her novel and I think it deserves a great movie for the theater.

It failed to show what a horrible, ungrateful, and manipulative little monster Christina was to her hardworking and loving mother...

Did I mention she was also quite the little tramp, picked her nose compulsively, and generally disrespected her sainted adopted mother?

I saw it for the umpteenth time a few years back at a cinema with a packed audience that laughed uproariously throughout; next to me was a guy who had never seen the film and he kept muttering, "What the fuck am I watching?"

[quote]Why wasn't Mommie Dearest taken more seriously?[/quote]

BECAUSE I AM NOT ONE OF YOUR FAAAAAAANS!!!!!

There actually was a lot of subtlety in Faye's performance, especially the looks she gave Christina when she wasn't in full freak out mode. The scene where she tells Christina that now her spoiled and selfish dolls won't interrupt her sleep either is chilling.

Faye herself (as crazy as she is) got it right. The director failed to tell her to take it down several notches and the result was that her overacting turned the film into a campfest.

I've always felt Dunaway deserved a better film to play Joan Crawford in (and a better actress to play opposite than Diana Scarwid). She nails Crawford's mannerisms and her look, and her performance has great intensity that should have been channeled better by the director. They couldn't have found a better actress for the role, but it was all downhill from there.

What is Mommie Dearest?

R1 Best Documentary!

R11 Something you can google = Google was founded when you were 8.

[quote] There actually was a lot of subtlety in Faye's performance, especially ... when she wasn't in full freak out mode.

Why, I don't know what you're talking about.

Faye seems to be pro-Joan and anti-Christina, here in this comment.

Christina was such a flirt.

My sources tell me a remake of the film is in development. OMFG.

Shitfest

Spill, r16!!!

A remake of Mommie Dearest is as unnecessary as a remake of West Side Story.

It's a much better picture than Valley of the Dolls, but it's unfairly regarded in the same light by its gay fans.

Nah, r20, cinematically, Valley of the Dolls is actually a much better film than Mommie Dearest. For all the flaws with the script and the silliness of the acting, Valley has a visual quality that Mommie Dearest doesn't have.

Now and then a sadness that you can genuinely feel and relate to slips through the camp outer shell of VOTD. Mostly in Sharon Tate's scenes and the closing credits. Mommie Dearest is too operatic for anyone to relate to on a human level.

[quote] Mommie Dearest is too operatic for anyone to relate to on a human level.

Fuck you, I lived it!

OP— What are you talking about? It won plenty of awards.

Rofl @ R24!!!!

Only the second year of the "Razzies," and Mommie Dearest earned the most nominations!

That's fucking hilarious.

How could anyone have taken this movie seriously?

I wonder if Faye's hand actually connected with Diana's face?

I'll bet it did!

How would Joan have handled it, if Christina ended up looking like Honey Boo Boo's mother?

I watched this during an online viewing and most of the people who had never seen it found it quite dark. And I have to agree. It didn't seem as campy as I remembered.

Faye's performance does have a lot of subtlety. I still think the scene with Louis B. Mayer is one of her best scenes in any film. Joan containing her rage and humiliation is brilliant.

As over the top as some of the scenes are, the abuse scenes are very chilling. As Roger Ebert said in his review, the film is voyeuristic. As someone who experienced something similar to Christina when I was younger, those scenes rang true. I've also read from other abuse survivors that those scenes are relatable.

The ONLY decent acting in this movie was the dirt under the large plant on the living room floor. PU

Leave Faye alone.

I think it was taken seriously when it came out? I remember seeing in on HBO as a kid and being terrified, fascinated and disgusted by it.

Hollywood can't handle a tough broad who's their equal, so they got to tear her down. They did it to me too.

Aren't people tired of talking about this?

Good fucking grief, there are better fucking pictures to waste ones time on!

R34 - And yet, here you are. Why not start your own thread rather than come here and insult others. Oh right... what's the fun in that?

[quote]R27 I wonder if Faye's hand actually connected with Diana's face? I'll bet it did!

Rutanya Alda said Faye roughed up wee Mara Hobel in the wire hanger scene, and the studio rushed out to buy her a truckload of toys to keep her pacified.

The Great Appeasement:

I like the pacing of Mommie Dearest. It seems shorter than it’s 2h 9m length. I also like the art direction and wardrobe.

[quote] I wonder if Faye's hand actually connected with Diana's face?

Yes. Many times. But mostly off camera.

Maybe one thing I’ll say about it and that’s all. It’s just like obsession. OP - why can’t you be obsessed about positive things? About Marlon Brando. About the Costa Rica movie that was the hit of all of Europe and Cannes. About the film I did with Brando and talk to that - you know?

Dear Faye, we loved you in Mommie Dearest AND The Towering Inferno.

Thank you for that.

It was, OP. I loved it. I think Faye should have been nominated. I don’t know why that’s a “controversial” statement, it’s fucking ridiculous. It was a great performance.

Poor Faye would've likely been nominated for an Oscar (at the very least!), had she been given a better director to do the film justice. Instead, with Frank Perry at the helm, we get a collection of overly long, extended scenes of Monster Joan being nasty and in meltdown mode.

And I don't fault Faye for giving it her all. Doing a heavy emotional meltdown scene is mentally draining for the actor, and they have to do several takes to make sure there is enough footage from all angles for the editor to piece together. So when Method-y actors get to that emotional breaking point where they're firing all cylinders, they can't just switch it on and off, they have to carry it through. It is up to the skilled director and editor to pare this all down to a seamless scene. But with Mr. Perry, he didn't seem to know when enough was enough.

Andy Warhol was stunned when Faye wasn't nominated.

Paramount has just released an amazing blu-ray of MD. The images, colors and definitions are great.

Because it was based off a very one sided account. They turned Joan into a mustache twirling Victorian villain and they movie is full of dumb tropes. Reality is much more nuanced and reviewers back then we're much more aware of the shades of grey in life.

apparently the guy who directed that movie is Katy Perry's uncle. I wonder what that household looked like

Frank Perry was a good director. Look up his filmography. Great movies, some of my all-time faves.

R49, Frank Perry did fine with those indie characters studies like "The Swimmer," "David and Lisa," and "Diary of a Mad Housewife," but he was not the right person for "Mommie Dearest." I think he tried to deliver the same observational approach with "Mommie Dearest," but this Joan is not a real person. She is a movie villain with no real depth, so the presentation is a shallow one.

Who really remembers what other films came out in 1981? 40 years later, we're still talking about Mommie Dearest. I don't even know what else came out that year aside from Friday the 13th Part 2 and Chariots of Fire.

In the end, Mommie Dearest is a classic as a film and pop culture artifact.

Because it's super corny and campy op.

[Quote] Who really remembers what other films came out in 1981?

Raiders of the Lost Ark, On Golden Pond, Superman II....

And yet here on DL we're talking about Mommie Dearest and not Superman II or Indy.

^That's because we're gay. In the wider culture, Raiders and Superman II get more attention than Mommie Dearest.

You gays talk about Stripes (1981).

Don't fuck with me, fellas!

It is a fun yet tasteless movie.

We don't talk about Superman or Indy because we don't want to talk about TOXIC MASCULINITY.

We talk about Mommie Dearest because we DO want to talk about TOXIC FEMININITY!!

Because it's a high-camp hootenanny from start to finish.

Steve Forrest gets me rock hard every time in his shower scene.

[quote] I watched this during an online viewing and most of the people who had never seen it found it quite dark. And I have to agree. It didn't seem as campy as I remembered.

I agree. I watched the film recently and it was much darker than I thought it was. And Faye is a great actress who deserved a better director and film.

Its an intense, hot house kind of movie. Arty. Many movie watchers would be be shaken and uneasy if they "took it seriously".

Also, lots of people react the way they have been told they should react to a movie or TV show. If it's a "gay camp classic" then that's the way they read it.

Of course the scenario is horrific. And it reminds me of Joan's own Baby Jane movie. People have been told that Whatever Happened to Baby Jane is a camp fest, and it is that, but it is also horrifying. The story is violent and nightmarish, and the direction is great, as are the performances.

Anyone is welcome to take such rich artistic creations on different levels, but many don't bother to do so, or have no practice and strategies to do so.

You gotta be kidding op. There's a thread like yours on this film every week on here.

[quote] Steve Forrest gets me rock hard every time in his shower scene.

Even Faye got an erection!