Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Mommie Dearest Blu-ray Movie Review

"No! Wire! Hangers! What're wire hangers doing in this closet when I told you no wire hangers ever?"

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown September 21, 2023

Typically I approach a previously unseen movie of yesteryear with enough knowledge and preliminary research to set the stage for my first viewing. Expectations can sometimes be damning but knowing what I'm in for has proven helpful more often than not. But, by sheer chance, I came to Mommie Dearest completely blind. Somehow, I had never heard of the film, despite my longtime appreciation for Faye Dunaway's filmography. My assumption? I was sitting down to watch a hard-hitting biopic on the tumultuous life and career of legendary screen star Joan Crawford. Well... that'll teach me. That is not this film. Mommie Dearest is camp at camp's finest... and at camp's worst. It doesn't intend to earn unintentional laughs, and yet, I couldn't help but crack up more and more with each passing scene. Which would make for a fun watch, if the movie didn't take itself so dreadfully, drearily serious. It's meant to evoke horror and disgust; drama at its best. It's meant to offer deep insight into what made Crawford so reportedly erratic and mentally unstable; a searing portrait of an unraveling artist. Instead, it barely peels back a single layer of the woman who -- as the hilariously melodramatic film and lead performance suggests over and over again -- was a terribly deluded and abusive human being, an awful, self-righteous mother and nothing short of an unhinged cartoon monster.

When her adoptive mother Joan Crawford died in 1977, erstwhile actress/author Christina Crawford and her brother Christopher were left out of the actress's will, "for reasons which are well known to them." Industry insiders have suggested that it may have been this posthumous act of rejection rather than an alleged lifetime of parental abuse that inspired Christina Crawford to pen her scathing 1978 autobiography, "Mommie Dearest". The 1981 film version of the book, brought to the screen under the operatic direction of Frank Perry, stars Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford, a licentious, child-beating behemoth who stalked and postured through life as though it was one of her own pictures; more 'Strait-Jacket' (1964) than 'Mildred Pierce' (1945). The film also stars Diana Scarwid and Mara Hobel as Christina Crawford, Xander Berkeley and Jeremy Scott Reinbolt as Christopher Crawford, Steve Forrest as Joan's husband Gregg Savitt, Jocelyn Brando as Barbara Bennett, Howard da Silva as Louis B. Mayer, Alice Nunn as Helga, Priscilla Pointer as Margaret Lee Chadwick and Belita Moreno as Belinda Rosenberg.

Muddying the biopic waters is the fact that many people close to Joan Crawford denounced Christina Crawford's book upon its publication, declaring it full of lies, fabrications and exaggerations. Two of those people were Joan Crawford's other daughters, lending credibility to the accusations against the tell-all. Stack a screenplay of Hollywood sensationalism on top and what do you get? A movie that, most likely, has little to no grasp on the real Joan Crawford. Missing are her early years, her upbringing, her rise to fame... anything that might provide a believable origin story as to where the star's alleged cruelty and abusive disposition was born. We're introduced to Dunaway's Crawford midstream, flailing like a drowning dog that forgot it could swim. She vaults from one extreme to another, whispering then shouting, sometimes in the course of a single sentence. Her eyes widen to the point of bulging, then stretch further, as if they're eager to pop. She commits herself fully, I'll give her that. And to be clear, I doubt Dunaway is at fault. Mommie Dearest stinks of poor direction. I've no doubt Dunaway trusted director Frank Perry implicitly, and I suspect she thought she was portraying a woman who had become more screen character than person; an actress who had lost herself in her own roles. But Perry fails her, crafting a film that's as over the top as it is bemusingly flawed and self-important.

Is there anything going for Mommie Dearest? If you love camp... scratch that. If you're the kind of cinephile who gets a giant kick out of movies like Sharknado, Tommy Wiseau's The Room (2003) or, God help me, Troll 2 (1990), but wish these unintended camp semi-classics had bigger budgets, an A-lister on the billboard and an Academy-nominated filmmaker at the helm, you've come to the right place. Viewed as a comedy, or at the very least a send-up of the at-times flurry of melodramatic eccentricities of the Silver Age of film, Mommie Dearest sorta, kinda, almost works. As far as Dunaway's performance is concerned anyway. Unfortunately, her supporting cast doesn't lend much support, particularly in the child and adult roles of Christina. You'd think the author of a tell-all book -- a victim of years of abuse -- would be the beating, sympathetic heart of an adaptation. But no. Christina, as portrayed, will make you grate your teeth and long for the credits. There's not much empathy to be had, and that's even if you take the film and the book's author at their word. Ah well. Mommie Dearest is a strange curiosity in early '80s master-camp-erpieces. It has its fans. If you're one of them, I'm not dismissing your love or questioning your taste. Enjoy what you enjoy. Apologize to no one. But please, oh please, explain to me how this one works for you, because I'm baffled.

Mommie Dearest Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The 17th film in the "Paramount Presents" series, Mommie Dearest's Blu-ray release features a healthy, faithful 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer from a newly minted 4K master. Why the film wasn't released on 4K is a bit of a head-scratcher, but a limited budget and a relatively small fanbase are probably to blame. No matter. Colors are warm and lifelike, with natural skintones, punchy primaries (Joan's lipstick leaves a mark) and deep black levels. Contrast is filmic and consistently exacting, and grain has been preserved with no unsightly or extended surges or chunkiness to report. Detail is excellent too. Fine textures are revealing, especially in close-ups of Dunaway's face (with or without smears of makeup), and edges are crisp and free of halos. There are a handful of soft shots inherent to the original photography and elements but no one acquainted with '80s filmmaking will bat an eyelash. Moreover, there's very little print wear, specks or blemishes of note, nor did I notice any instances of banding or artifacting. All in all, this is a fine presentation; one you'd expect to accompany a more beloved film.

Mommie Dearest Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Paramount presents Mommie Dearest with two audio options: a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix and a Dolby Digital mono 2.0 track. The DTS-HD mix is superior in terms of clarity and immersiveness, though purists may gravitate to the mono track as it offers an experience that's more faithful to the film's original release. Dialogue is clean, clear and well-prioritized on both, and the Henry Mancini score is given a nice prominence in the soundscape that never over or underwhelms. The surround mix is largely a front-heavy affair, with minor directional effects and pans being used to decent effect without resorting to over-modernizing the use of the entire soundfield. Likewise, low-end support is lacking by today's standards but still manages to lend weight to several tantrums and melodramatic dust-ups. Neither track suffers from any real issues, thankfully, meaning Mommie Dearest sounds about as good as it possibly could.

Mommie Dearest Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with John Waters - Filmmaker and provocateur John Waters subs in for any surviving member of the cast, crew or Crawford family, which is... fine, I suppose. A holdover from the early 2000s DVD edition of Mommie Dearest, it's a fun, easy listen, and Waters does offer quite a few solid insights into the film and its cult audience. Few directors would suit such a track, but one of the cult directors of all cult directors certainly fits the bill.

• Audio Commentary with Hedda Lettuce - Insult-slinging drag queen Hedda Lettuce's commentary is far less successful, and to be honest, as irritating as the film's worst beats. Granted, I didn't listen to the full track, so maybe there's something more here to appreciate. But Hedda neither seems fond of the movie or critically attuned to its greater and lesser qualities.

• Filmmaker Focus: Biographer Justin Bozung on Director Frank Perry (HD, 7 minutes) - The only newly produced featurette is too short but offers a far more in-depth glimpse behind the Mommie Dearest curtain than the commentaries. If only Bozung had been tapped for a commentary. As a Perry biographer, it seems like a no-brainer. Too bad.

• The Revival of Joan (SD, 14 minutes) - The first of several featurettes ported over from the 2006 DVD, "Revival" focuses on pre- production, prepping the film, casting and more.

• Life with Joan (SD, 14 minutes) - A more "gory details" featurette that recounts a number of anecdotes from the production and offers plenty of salacious behind-the-scenes details, particularly as it pertains to Dunaway's method acting on set, several infamous scenes (the wire hanger being one), and a composite character featured in the film.

• Joan Lives On (SD, 16 minutes) - The final featurette takes a look at the film's release and reception, its camp label and legacy, and the cast and filmmakers' response to the reaction.

• Photo Gallery (HD)

• Theatrical Trailer (SD, 4 minutes)

Mommie Dearest Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mommie Dearest is many things but an "insightful biopic" isn't one of them. Not even remotely. This is the cringiest of cringe-inducing camp chewing the scenery alongside even campier flights of madness (based on a tell-all book that was widely accused of gross exaggeration and outright fabrication), and you have to have a flair for the overly -- and I mean overly -- melodramatic to appreciate anything the film or Dunaway have on tap. Fortunately for fans, the Blu-ray release of Mommie Dearest delivers an excellent remastering and equally remarkable video presentation, solid audio quality, and a few new supplements (for better or worse) along with all the previously released DVD edition's content. Is it worth a purchase? If you enjoy the film, absolutely. If you've never seen it, though, you might want to approach with caution. I wish I had.