Are You With Us? Serial Mom
By Ryan Mazie
April 9, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Written and directed by John Waters in his most mainstream effort (the film closed the Cannes Film Festival), Serial Mom stars Kathleen Turner, who steals the title of “Desperate Housewife.” While Cabin mocks the horror genre, Mom sends up America’s obsession with true-life murder stories and their subsequent trials that are turned into serialized dramas, taking a stab at mocking domestic culture.
Turner, in one of her funniest roles, portrays Beverley Sutphin, a family matriarch who seems as if she walked out of a Betty Crocker commercial. But beneath her pastel-colored aprons and perfectly made-up skin is a bloodthirsty serial killer who will bludgeon a neighbor for not recycling and whack people who wear white after Labor Day.
Oscar nominee Sam Waterston plays her timid husband, while Waters regular Ricki Lake and Matthew Lillard (in his debut role) play Beverly’s children, who aren’t above selling t-shirts to profit off their mother’s criminal-doings (“Do I need a lawyer?” asks Beverly to her husband before the courtroom trial. He responds, “You need an agent.”).
Set in a bright neighborhood that has never stylistically left the Eisenhower era, Serial Mom’s ideal background makes the darkness that takes place in the foreground even more jarring (or nervously funny depending on how dark you like your humor).
Serial Mom is essentially one long running joke that a Snow White-like (she sings to birds! She can’t possibly be a murderer!) suburbanite is a cold-blooded killer. But with frequent incisive observations on domesticity that has sustained eight seasons worth of laughter on Desperate Housewives, Serial Mom has no problem at keeping things running smoothly, clocking in at 95 minutes.
While the supporting cast is fine, Turner steals the spotlight as swiftly and efficiently as her character steals the lives of her neighbors. A tricky role making fun of a mentally disturbed woman, Turner’s expert transitions (strongly helped by Waters’ stylistic choices that keep things always slightly above reality) between bright and vengeful make the part unforgettable. It is a shame Turner never bothered taking another mood-sporadic part like this again since she aced it so well here.
In retrospect, the film was released prematurely. It was almost exactly two months before the O.J. Simpson trial, when the American mentality Waters criticizes here of making murderers celebrities went into overdrive.
Not that the movie needs to be remade, but in a world of TMZ, live streams of courtroom trials (who else was watching Lindsay Lohan’s courtroom streams with me?), and Real Housewives/Desperate Housewives becoming a TV staple, Serial Mom is more timely than ever (and could have probably done a better job at the box office). While Waters’ style was still a bit kitschy for 1994, in a world of Instagram and movies directed by Tarsem Singh becoming box office hits, Serial Mom’s aesthetics would have also connected to the mainstream today, too.
Distributed by the quickly defunct movie studio Savoy Pictures, Serial Mom was released in only 502 theaters opening weekend (even though it was 1994, most films this size would still see themselves in at least double or triple that amount of screens). Failing to crack the top 10, Serial Mom earned $2 million, but had the second best per theater average in the top 20 grossers. Made for $13 million, and adding a few more dozen theaters, the dark comedy ended its run with a forgettable $7.8 million ($14.8 million adjusted). This is still John Waters top-grossing film.
The strength of the movie’s satire prevailed over the years, evolving into a semi-cult classic. While there are no midnight screenings of Serial Mom or licensed-merchandise, the DVD demand for the movie has stayed consistently strong. In fact, a collector’s edition DVD was released May 2008, making the film certainly with us.
A ghoulishly gleeful tale of murder and domestic bliss, Serial Mom is a strong satire that only gets richer with age. Kathleen Turner is revelatory as Beverly in a role that would most certainly be defining if it weren’t for the film’s lack of financial success.
Verdict: With Us
7 out of 10