History YMMV / MommieDearest

* AudienceColoringAdaptation: The movie's reputation as an over-the-top unintentional comedy has led to people believing the book to be as trashy and salacious, along the lines of ''Literature/ValleyOfTheDolls''. The book itself is actually a self-portrait of an adult woman trying to reconcile her love for an adopted mother who could sometimes be loving but also erratic and abusive. The film itself is what turned Joan Crawford into a deranged cartoon character, for all Faye Dunaway's insistence that the book tarnished the actress's legacy. Even Christina Crawford herself disowned the film, saying "my mother didn't deserve that". Years later in an interview, when asked how accurate Faye Dunaway's portrayal was, she responded "just the make-up".

*** Several of Creator/JoanCrawford's friends, such as Creator/MyrnaLoy, and biographers, such as Donald Spoto, David Bret and Charlotte Chandler, have argued that Joan's strictness toward her children was grossly overblown by Christina, who had real discipline issues throughout her childhood and adolescence and a poor relationship with her mother thereafter (as did her brother Christopher; the twins had a much better relationship with Joan), and who wrote the book as a TakeThat out of resentment, justified or not. (The sources who argue in favor of this interpretation often acknowledge that Joan had personality issues that made her not particularly well-suited to be a mother, despite her intense desire for children.) They also point out that although Joan was, by all accounts, a stern disciplinarian with her children, this was [[FairForItsDay in keeping with the standards of the era]], which placed a premium on discipline, filial respect and similar values. Other friends of Joan Crawford and Christina including Helen Hayes, June Allyson, Creator/RexReed, James [=McArthur=], Betty Hutton, Eve Arden and Creator/LanaTurner's daughter Cheryl Crane (who attended the same school as Christina at some point) have come forward to say they did witness some abuse. As usual in these matters, the truth likely lies somewhere in between the two poles, and even her sympathizers agree that Joan did occasionally take very harsh actions in dealing with her children's misbehavior; for instance, Bret confirms that Joan did once cut Christina's curls off when she caught the girl impersonating her in front of her dressing-room mirror.
** Joan also counts: Was she an abusive bitch? Or was Joan just mentally disturbed/in desperate need of anti-psychotic medication? Creator/JohnWaters opines that, besides being a prime candidate for medication for her various mental disorders, Joan suffered greatly from the sudden [[RagsToRiches rise from poverty to super-stardom]], causing her to project all of her issues with being poor into her obsessive cleaning and going postal on Christina when she used poor people clothing hangers or got into Joan's ultra-expensive make-up. The camp that argues that Christina's account was either greatly exaggerated or outright fabricated admits that Joan did place an overemphasis on discipline with Christina and Christopher, though she corrected this when raising the twins, and agree that she had issues with having grown up poor and in a dysfunctional family environment. For one example, Joan really did strap Christopher down to his bed to prevent him from masturbating. On the one hand, that's ''incredibly'' abusive by modern standards. On the other hand, this was at a time when masturbation was still widely seen as perverted and even [[SelfAbuse physically and psychologically dangerous]].

*** It has been pointed out that it could be most likely due to the fact that Joan Crawford grew up dirt poor, and wire coat hangers were a reminder of the past and her struggles being poor.

* CriticalBacklash: It was slaughtered by critics and won multiple Razzies, even being declared the worst film of the 1980's, but there are many people now who see it as a genuinely good and underappreciated film that accurately captures the horrors of an abusive childhood and didn't deserve the negative reception it got and criticize the studio for repackaging it as a campy comedy rather than the serious drama it is.

* DiagnosedByTheAudience: Many modern viewers have suggested that Joan Crawford may have had untreated bipolar, PTSD, Borderline personality disorder, or Narcissistic personality disorder.

* JerkassWoobie: Joan. Reading between the lines, the film makes a case that her wild mood swings and abusive behavior stem from a combination of her own harsh childhood, mental illness, and the pressures of Hollywood. None of this excuses her behavior, but it adds a note of sorrow that a woman with every possible resource couldn't recognize or break the cycle of abuse. It's also hard not to feel for her as she finds her opportunities becoming more and more limited as she gets older, despite her past success.

* CriticalDissonance: The film grossed $39 million worldwide against its $10 million budget, despite critics slamming it for being campy. Deconstructed in that the studio realized that the film was getting positive reaction for [[SoBadItsGood all of the wrong reasons]], and they changed the format of marketing trying to capitalize on it.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: In the opinion of Creator/RogerEbert: "In scene after scene, we are invited to watch as Joan Crawford screams at Christina, chops her hair with scissors, beats her with a wire coat hanger and, on an especially bad day, tackles her across an end table, hurls her to the carpet, bangs her head against the floor, and tries to choke her to death. Who wants to watch this?" However, as society has become more aware of child abuse and mental health disorders, the scenes have gone from being ridiculous to a disturbingly accurate portrayal of domestic abuse.

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*** It might be even more of a TearJerker: Joan Crawford, while married to her first husband Creator/DouglasFairbanksJr from whom she was estranged, she had an affair with Creator/ClarkGable in 1931, and became pregnant. Metro Goldwyn Mayer head of publicity Howard Strickling arranged for Joan to get an abortion. At the time, an abortion would very likely have been performed by with a wire hanger, and would have carried an exceptionally high risk of complications resulting in difficulty successfully carrying subsequent pregnancies to term. Therefore, the sight of wire coat hangers might be bringing back a painful memory for Joan, especially given her extreme desire for children combined with her multiple post-abortion miscarriages.

* CharacterPerceptionEvolution: A very odd case since Joan Crawford was a real person. But the film and book's depiction of her has evolved over the years. The film got a reputation as an unintentional comedy, and Joan was viewed as a laughable {{Camp}} icon and deranged cartoon character; too ridiculous to take seriously. As years have gone by and awareness of how abuse manifests itself has increased, audiences look to this portrayal as disturbingly accurate.

* CultClassic: In both senses. The film has been popular among bad film fans for years due to Faye Dunaway's over the top performance and the "wire hangers" scene being frequently quoted in the same way as [[Film/TheRoom "You're tearing me apart, Lisa!"]] It's also been going in the other direction in recent years as more people, including Creator/JohnWaters and Creator/BradJones (both of whom are known lovers of {{Camp}}), are starting to see it as genuinely good and underappreciated film with Faye Dunaway being praised for getting Joan Crawford down perfectly and making her a [[NightmareFuel legitimately frightening]] figure and hitting back against its reputation as a camp classic.

* NarmCharm: Faye Dunaway may be over the top a lot of the time but that doesn't do anything to undermine how genuinely frightening she is in the role. Many scenes, including the "wire hangers" moment, effectively get across just how terrifying it would be to grow up with such a person and, if anything, her over the top behavior drives home just how unstable Joan is.

** WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob also gave a positive review of the movie, going so far as to [[Creator/BradJones break character]] to praise Dunaway's performance and slam the Razzies for "awarding" the film Worst Picture of that year. He also raises some really good points about pop culture's perception of scenes of movies [[ItMakesSenseInContext without the overall context]] (namely, the fact that the infamous "wire hangers" scene is followed by Joan beating Christina with said wire hanger).

** While the infamous wire-hanger scene was viewed as ridiculous during the film’s release (and even now to some extent), a lot modern viewers don’t see it as such and view it as a realistic depiction of a narcissistic abusive parent where ''any'' minor slight or mistake is treated as an unforgivable offense. Viewers who have gone through similar experiences point out that many child abuse stories seem far-fetched, but are still very true and very terrifying.
* VindicatedByHistory: Has been getting this reputation in some circles, with audiences feeling that it's not ''as'' bad as everyone says it is. In his review, WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob not only gave it a glowing, non-ironic review, going as far as to praise the infamous "No wire hangers!" scene for such a raw performance, but furiously blamed its bad reputation on negative word-of-mouth more than the quality of the movie itself.

*** It might be even more of a TearJerker: Joan Crawford, while married to her first husband Creator/DouglasFairbanksJr from whom she was estranged, she had an affair with Creator/ClarkGable in 1931, and became pregnant. Metro Goldwyn Mayer head of publicity Howard Strickling arranged for Joan to get an abortion. Some rumors will say it was a back-alley abortion - and back-alley abortions often involve wire coat hangers. Therefore, the sight of wire coat hangers might be bringing back a painful memory.

** While the infamous wire-hanger scene was viewed as ridiculous during the film’s release (and even now to some extent), a lot modern viewers don’t see it as such and view it as a realistic depiction of a narcissistic abusive parent. Viewers who have gone through similar experiences point out that many child abuse stories seem far-fetched, but are still very true and very terrifying.

* SignatureScene: Joan's iconic rant about wire hangers is easily the most famous scene and [[SignatureLine in the film]], to the point that some watch it [[WatchItForTheMeme just for that moment.]] It's also been defended by the film's fans who note that the context of the scene, Joan's reasons for why she has such an intense hatred of them and how legitimately frightening the scene is, especially for people who grew up with abusive parents who really did blow up over minor slights, and note that it's far from the campy moment it's often thought of by those who haven't seen the film.

* CriticalBacklash: It was slaughtered by critics and won multiple Razzies, even being declared the worst film of the 1980's, but there are many people now who see it as a genuinely good and underappreciated film that accuarely captures the horrors of an abusive childhood and didn't deserve the negative reception it got and criticize the studio for repackaging it as a campy comedy rather than the serious drama it is.

* CultClassic: In both senses. The film has been popular among bad film fans for years due to Faye Dunaway's over the top performance and the "wire hangers" scene being frequently quoted in the same way as [[Film/TheRoom "You're tearing me apart, Lisa!"]] It's also been going in the other direction in recent years as more people, including Creator/BradJones, are starting to see it as genuinely good and underappreciated film with Faye Dunaway being praised for getting Joan Crawford down perfectly and making her a [[NightmareFuel legitimately frightening]] figure and hitting back against its reputation as a camp classic.

* LGBTFanbase: As something of a GatewaySeries for camp cinema, and being about a famous queer icon, you bet this has a substantial queer fan base!

* VindicatedByHistory: Has been getting this reputation in some circles lately, with audiences feeling that it's not ''as'' bad as everyone says it is. In his review, WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob not only gave it a glowing, non-ironic review, going as far as to praise the infamous "No wire hangers!" scene for such a raw performance, but furiously blamed its bad reputation on negative word-of-mouth more than the quality of the movie itself.

* {{Narm}}: A lot, but especially the infamous wire hanger scene.

** Creator/FayeDunaway genuinely believed she would win an Oscar for her portrayal of Crawford, only to get humiliated for her performance following its release. She later said that she was horrified and ashamed of the end result, often saying that the director just didn't care to tone down her performance.

** Joan also counts: Was she an abusive bitch? Or was Joan just mentally disturbed/in desperate need of anti-psychotic medication?
*** Creator/JohnWaters opines that, besides being a prime candidate for medication for her various mental disorders, Joan suffered greatly from the sudden [[RagsToRiches rise from poverty to super-stardom]], causing her to project all of her issues with being poor into her obsessive cleaning and going postal on Christina when she used poor people clothing hangers or got into Joan's ultra-expensive make-up.
*** The camp that argues that Christina's account was either greatly exaggerated or outright fabricated admits that Joan did place an overemphasis on discipline with Christina and Christopher, though she corrected this when raising the twins, and agree that she had issues with having grown up poor and in a dysfunctional family environment.
*** For one example, Joan really did strap Christopher down to his bed to prevent him from masturbating. On the one hand, that's ''incredibly'' abusive by modern standards. On the other hand, this was at a time when masturbation was still widely seen as perverted and even [[SelfAbuse physically and psychologically dangerous]].

* ValuesDissonance: Spanking children was not unheard of in Joan's generation. Related to the AlternateCharacterInterpretation at the top of the page however, it's up to the reader/viewer how much or how little that excuses her behavior toward her children. In particular she would tie her son to the bed with his arms at his sides to make sure he wouldn't masturbate (even when he was a lot younger than a lot of boys who would start that behavior), which took place at a time when masturbation was seen as medically and psychologically dangerous. Naturally, such a step would never be tolerated today.

* CriticalBacklash: It was slaughtered by critics and won multiple Razzies, even being declared the worst film of the 1980's, but there are many people now who see it as an underappreciated film that didn't deserve the negative reception it got and criticize the studio for repackaging it as a campy comedy rather than the serious drama it is.

* JerkassWoobie: Joan. Reading between the lines, the film makes a case that her wild mood swings and abusive behavior stem from a combination of her own harsh childhood, mental illness, and the pressures of Hollywood. None of this excuses her behavior, but it adds a note of sorrow that a woman with every possible resource couldn't recognize or break the cycle of abuse.

* CriticalDissonance: The film made a lot of money, despite critics slamming it for being campy. Deconstructed in that the studio realized that the film was getting positive reaction for [[SoBadItsGood all of the wrong reasons]], and they changed the format of marketing trying to capitalize on it.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: In the opinion of Creator/RogerEbert: "In scene after scene, we are invited to watch as Joan Crawford screams at Christina, chops her hair with scissors, beats her with a wire coat hanger and, on an especially bad day, tackles her across an end table, hurls her to the carpet, bangs her head against the floor, and tries to choke her to death. Who wants to watch this?"