Serial Mom (1994)

Simply Perfect

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This deliberately cheap and outrageous mix of camp laughs and gross shocks from cult filmmaker John Waters needs (cries out, really) for an outrageous star in the title role. As a suburban wife and mother--and closet psychopath--who coolly eliminates those in her community who stand in her family's way, Kathleen Turner is too grounded in reality for a cartoony black comedy. The actress definitely has a cool, casual demeanor (as written), but there are no fanciful notes in her throaty voice, and no natural sparkle of dementia in her manner. Waters enjoys tickling his audiences by putting otherwise-serious actors in incredibly gaudy situations and encouraging them to go for broke, and Turner was apparently enticed enough to tear into the project with relish. Unfortunately, though her approach to the part was probably what Waters wanted, she's too clear-eyed and focused for the pulpy material. One can sense Turner trying to find a comfortable niche here, trying to be wicked and silly, but it's mismatch of whacked-out visual humor (stunt humor that probably doesn't go far enough) and a star who weighs heavy on the punchlines like an anchor. ** from ****

It's been years since I had seen this movie so I remembered a little bit but I guess I didn't fully appreciate the genius of Jon Waters at that tender age of whatever the hell age I was in 94 (I don't feel like doin' math and I'm too busy doin' this bad ass review for all of u to be destracted by time consuming stuff like addition and numbers and all that jazz. How great is jazz, right? I mean Kenny G sucks ass but he's not even jazz in my opinion...wait I'm getting off topic, sorry back to the review). So Kathleen Turner is the quintessential 50's type Mom who can prepare and carve the perfect turkey dinner and then carve up some good ole fashioned murderin'. You know the kind Mom used to do? The rest of the family is just swell but even they begin to wonder whether there seemingly perfect matriarch is more Charles Manson then Betty Crocker. Turner cuts and slashes her way thru the little town they call home and slowly reduces the population one or two at a time with Johnny Law watching her every move. The use of satire and the way Water pisses all over the "perfect nuclear American family" is just plain fun for anyone who doesn't have a stick up their ass and enjoys a dark comedy and a savagely original film. The laughs are frequent and Waters unapologetic way of using the bizarre and macabre to amuse us is something that has to be appreciated by the people that don't like to follow the status quo and can take a joke. If you like anti heroes, dark comedy and you have a bit of a twisted sense of humor then watch this movie...after all it's based on a true story and Serial Mom is due for parole anytime.

Kathleen Turner rocks the house and her neighborhood as the picture-perfect mom who takes matters into her own hands to correct behaviors she considers bad manners. And if murder is the method in which she either corrects these behaviors (or simply eliminates them altogether), that's just too bad, because like fellow John Waters heroine Edna Turnblad ("Hairspray"), her diet pill is wearing off, and like Francine Fishpaw of "Polyester", she just can't take any more heartbreak! Imagine if Divine had lived long enough to do this movie. The obese drag queen would have added a grotesque image to the character of Beverly Sutphin, suburban Baltimore wife and mother who doesn't allow her children to use "the brown word", has a police officer remove the gum he's chewing, and treats her hard-working garbage men to mini-bottles as she comments on neighbor Mary Catlett's refusal to recycle. Then, there's the "Annie" watching video store customer of her son's who refuses to rewind (taken care of deliciously to the song "Tomorrow", much like the art patron bludgeoned in "A Clockwork Orange" to "Singin' in the Rain"), the math teacher who considers her son a wastrel, and the patient of her dentist husband who upsets her even more as she plots his and his wife's demise by eating cute Cornish hens.Taking care of all of these ne'er-do-wells (in her mind) is Kathleen Turner at her most beautiful, her husky voice perfectly suited to an obscene phone call to obnoxious neighbor Mink Stole, and deliciously rubbing it in later on in an extremely funny court scene where she wins over one witness by doing a "Basic Instinct" Sharon Stone impression for him. She also gets to visit a men's bathroom in a hysterically gross sequence where she takes care of daughter Rikki Lake's boyfriend who has dumped her for none other than Tracy Lords.Sound like another visit to Stepford? This is one woman who hasn't been robotized for her man (Sam Waterston), even though she goes out of her way to please him much to her children's discomfort. Turner rocks in this film, and while it definitely continues her "camp" quotient, it also as a "quote quotient" of hysterically funny memorable lines that have ended up as sketches in various drag shows across the country. John Waters adds just enough bad taste to keep the film amusing throughout, and you will not soon forget it. In fact, you may find yourself watching the film over just as soon as you've finished it to make sure you didn't miss anything the first time!

Can we safely say that if John Waters' name wasn't plaster all over this thing, it wouldn't have gotten half as many good reviews as it did. I feel as if people like his movies BECAUSE they're so terrible. It's not the subject matter that is a turn off to me, it's that John Waters doesn't know how to write. Good grief, can we take an unbiased look at the film and point out how God awful the dialogue is? Who the hell says "You bring me such peace" during sex? The characters in crappy movies like this one. The plot is so contrived. How did she know her victim would stop running long enough for her to drop an AC on him. Everything just happens to fit into place for the main character. There are so many things that are just awkwardly unrealistic. Of course, if you're being chased by a murderous woman, you're OBVIOUSLY gonna wanna try to hide in a venue that for some strange reason is having band play at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon.Id say that since the 20th anniversary of Serial Mom is coming up, we should all celebrate by pretending this turd was never pushed out.