Mommie Dearest

Widely considered a camp classic, Mommie Dearest nevertheless opens as if great, serious art awaits. The tracking shots of an unseen Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway) working through her long morning routine in her elaborate Hollywood home are part of an overall high level of technical acumen, and while the subsequent direction by Frank Perry (Last Summer) never devolves into schlock, nothing is on par with that initial stretch.

Instead, the adaptation of the tell-all memoir by Crawford’s adopted daughter Christina (played exceptionally well as a youth by Mara Hobel, and Diana Scarwid as a teen and adult) focuses on the actress’ intense vanity, jealousy, and fits of rage that made her a terror to live with. Dunaway leans into the mood swings with impressive, sustained intensity, and though the frequency of these ridiculous outbursts is the point of the film, that message is made early, rendering many later attacks more cartoonish than tragic.

Embracing the film’s unintentional wide appeal and status as a midnight movie staple, Paramount’s recent 40th anniversary Blu-ray includes a commentary by John Waters that’s been on past editions, and a newly-recorded accompanying track by drag queen Hedda Lettuce.

While Mommie Dearest’s chances of being remembered as a great film are long gone, its accidental second life as a source of merriment and this new physical media restoration suggests it will remain in the zeitgeist for many more decades.

Grade: C-plus. Rated PG. Available on Blu-ray, and to rent via Amazon Video and iTunes

(Photo: Paramount Pictures)