Over the years, this movie has become a camp classic in the gay community, who love it for its' over-acting and impeccable sense of Golden Age style, but where is it written that you have to be gay to enjoy this movie? I'm straight myself, but I can appreciate a 'good bad' movie.

One problem I do have, though, is with the stereotype of this movie's typical audience. You feel guilty about chuckling at the scene, but if it makes you laugh, what's the problem?

Child abuse is a horrible thing, of course, but somehow you can find yourself laughing as Joan thrashes her daughter, shrieking the infamous lines 'NO WIRE HANGERS! NO WIRE HANGERS, EVER!'. I'm a fan of this movie, but that's because I tend to have a thing for over-acting and nobody does it better than Dunaway in this movie. It's difficult to say why you would love or hate it, though. This is a movie that you either love or hate. The battle rages on for years, but do you think it will end when Crawford dies?Īaah, yes, 'Mommie Dearest'. It finally gets physical, with the mere act of hanging a dress on a wire hanger sending Joan through the roof. It then becomes psychological abuse with Joan telling Christina that Crawford will always be better than her. For example, Christina gets many presents on her birthday, but Joan would only allow her to keep one, while she would give the rest to various needy children. Joan was only acting the role of the caring mother.Inside her house, she was another beast entirely with young Christina. Christina only got to Joan because Crawford's friend Greg Savitt (Forrest) was able to pull some strings. She was also a caring mother to her daughter Christina (played as a child by Hobel and as an adult as Scarwid).Or was she?Ĭrawford, in the days before she made it big, was involved with multiple romances and several miscarriages. She was a great actress at both MGM (which gave her her start) and Warner Brothers (where she won an Oscar for the drama 'Mildred Pierce'). In the Golden Age Of Hollywood, one of the most shining stars was Joan Crawford (Dunaway).

Mommy dearest 1981 the movie