1994: Serial Mom (43rd)

What else happened this year? Forget politics (there's something Serbian here, sure, and was 1994 when Rwanda was kicking off? - yes it was.), I went with a representative team to play some kids from out of state and pacific islands, and we lost one match 104-4.

What is the plot - in one sentence? Kathleen Turner is a seemingly content urban housewife, with a family she loves, a house she's proud of, and a secret.

I don't have time, just spoil it for me? The secret is that she very quickly becomes a murderer, killing a number of people to protect her family and then for basically no reason at all. She's captured, and becomes a celebrity during her trial where she defends herself and is set free, seemingly to continue killing.

What is the meaning of the title? She's serial killer second, mom first. She's called 'serial mom' by the press who look to deify her during her trial, in another pretty tame satire. Is it a pun? If it is, it doesn't quite work.

Here's the family, still going to church despite being ostracised by the town. There's Matthew Lillard, Kathleen Turner, That bloke who's in everything, and Ricky Lake. There's also a white section at the bottom that I'm too lazy to cut out. I quite like it now.

Anything that's not aged well? Does a woman get slapped around? She's referred to as 'a mental' which I don't think you can do these days, but the sentiment is right - she does at very least need significant mental health attention. She does a lot of murders which just aren't possible in this day and age of constant surveillance. and that's both a shame and a joy.

Any thoughts? Look, this wasn't great. In the John Waters universe, it's safe to say that while Kathleen Turner, gets it, as does Ricky Lake as her horny daughter, the rest of the cast aren't quite up to it.

She's a seemingly normal woman, but she's got a secret life as a murderer, she first murders to help her family - killing a cheating boyfriend, for example - but by the end she's just out of control - killing for someone wearing white after Labour day, for another example - but in the meantime she's become a celebrity. It's meant to be a satire, but enough time has elapsed that it's not very cutting anymore.

One of the deaths involves pushing an Air conditioning unit from a higher floor onto someone's head, in a scene that Fargo the TV show would steal a mere 25 years later. She then defends herself in court while the TV crew who are making the TV movie about it watch her actively, and the family sells books about the ordeal. It's satire, but pretty tame by today's standards, it's also not very funny. There's a chance that the reasons that this is such a cult classic will become evident on re-watch, but I don't really want to do that right now.

Would you recommend this? John Waters is a subversive force. It's great to see someone genuinely subversive given a chance at mainstream stuff, However, this wasn't great. As a satire, this is pretty tame. As a comedy murder movie, it's also pretty tame.

Despite a few surprising cameos - Patti hHurst is stabbed next to a payphone, L7 play as a band with visible labias, Brigid Berlin the Warhol Star is there too, it never really kicked off. It's a cult classic, but a lot of cult classics require a need to be rewatched to get jokes which have been missed, I don't see myself rushing off to watch this specifically again.

Hmm... It was ok though. If you want to see a satire of suburban life by John Waters, that isn't a gross-out, see Polyester, which is a million times better than this and is both stupider and more clever than this.

Final thoughts? This is a straight movie made by a subversive person. That's it. I've been going out of my way to watch movies that are already on the list, because I'm tired of writing this, and I think that's very evident here. I'll take a break and come back refreshed. I'll say again. I love you. 

 

The rest of this century of cinema ordeal that I'm subjecting myself to, can be found...

 

Here.