Beauty vs Beast: Mommie Knows Best
Monday, March 30, 2015 at 12:15PM Jason from MNPP here with this week's "Beauty vs Beast," which could be considered a preview of coming attractions (random aside: I can only hear that phrase in Grace Kelly's voice) -- this week's episode of TFE's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series on Wednesday is devoted to the camp masterpiece Mommie Dearest, and so are we. I can't help myself. It's perfect for this series too, and somehow we've never asked the question. In one corner you've got Christina Crawford (played by Mara Hobel as a little girl and Diana Scarwid as a not-so-little girl), adopted daughter and axe-bringer. In the other corner you've got legendary movie star and crazy person Joan Crawford, played by legendary movie star (and perhaps also a crazy person - I have heard stories!) Faye Dunaway, giving a great, dedicated performance - I won't hear a word about her being "bad" in this movie. Not a word of it! On the one hand I'll grant you that it's awfully hard not to side with an abused child... but on the other hand, come on! Who are you watching this movie for???
PREVIOUSLY Last week we climbed inside the brains of Charlie Kaufman & Spike Jonze and oh yeah Catherine Keener for her birthday with a Being John Malkovich round, pitting Keener's caustic Maxine against Cameron Diaz's desperate Lotte - ultimately it was Cathy's brilliantly sleek sarcasm that won the day with just over 60% of the vote. Said Mr. Goodbar:
"Team Maxine. She is cut of the same cloth as Linda Fiorentino's from The Last Seduction: a misanthrope with irresistible charm and wit, except she finds love and changes whereas Fiorentino just stays on course to become a psychopath."
Reader Comments (23)
Team Oscar nominated "actress" Diana Scarwid all the way.
Team Christina, though Joan is clearly the more entertaining character to watch. I think Dunaway totally gets an Oscar nomination if this comes out today. Though it would also probably not come out today in theaters, so...quandry.
Why can't we give Faye the respect that she's entitled to? Why can't we treat her the way she would be treated by any stranger on the street!
I am definitely one of her FAAAAAAAANS!
I have to go with Joan/Faye. You rarely get that level of "tightrope without a net" acting anymore. Plus that shower scene has stuck with me................
You are aware that this poll allows multiple votes from the same source?
Team Faye, but not team Joan, at least not when it comes to her mothering skills.
I am aware, Henry. I'm not a stickler about that. If somebody wants to be a spazz and vote a thousand times then by all means let them be a spazz. I mean, I would actually be super amused if somebody cared that much :)
"It's not you I'm mad at, it's the dirt."
I just gotta watch this movie.
I adore the Faye Dunaway "Bonnie & Clyde + Chinatown + Network" Legacy.
Name a living actress who has such three films on her CV cuz I can't recall any.
Definitely Team Joan - both in general, and with regards to "Mommie Dearest". Her only flaw was not suffering anyone who was less driven than she! But I love Faye's performance, here - the most stylised and committed of that year.
I agree with everyone who is praising Faye in this role. Her acting in this is terrific. It ain't over the top if that's how the person she's portraying was--and that's definitely how Joan was!
"Not one of Joan's fans" - that's a con, not a pro
Probably one of those moments when I realized what was bad acting, so I'll give that to Dunaway. The movie's entertaining noneless, and Diana Scarwid is actually very good in it.
Yavor, I love(d) Faye but
Jeanne Moreau (Jules et Jim, La Notte, La mariée était en noir)
Catherine Deneuve (Les parapluies de Cherbourg, Belle du jour, Repulsion)
Jane Fonda (Barbarella, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Klute - back-to-back releases)
to name a few.
Paul Outlaw: I think of that specific trio of Deneuve titles all the time and think, "I can't believe she's in all THREE of these, and we're fortunate enough to still get her in movies all the time." That's basically my arguments #1, #2 and #3 for Deneuve as Greatest of All Time.
I also think of Yavor's trio of Dunaway titles pretty often and think, "I can't believe she's in all THREE of these, and we don't get to see her in anything any more." France knows how to treat its actresses.
Team Joan all the way! DON'T FUCK WITH ME BOYS!!!! She's a full-on badass.
Team Christopher!
[mostly for having the sense to stay out of this mess until the end]
@ Paul, my deepest apologies but how is Barbarella at all in the same line of thought of the "Bonnie & Clyde + Chinatown + Network" Legacy?
Klute and They Shoot Horses, Don't They? are really good films but nowhere near the classics that the 3 Faye films are.
I'd rather cut off my hand than criticize Dunaway Dearest!
Yavor, some people hate Bonnie and Clyde. ;-) (Not me.) And Barbarella is a classic of its kind that only improves on re-watches.
And I'm embarrassed that I left Diana Keaton off that list (Annie Hall, The Godfather, The Godfather Part 2, Looking for Mr. Goodbar, Manhattan, Interiors, Reds, Shoot the Moon...)
My Diana Ross-loving iPhone auto-corrected Keaton's first name!
CLEAN UP THIS MESS!
CLEAN UP THIS MESS!