Synopsis
Beverly is the perfect happy homemaker, along with her doting husband and two children, but this nuclear family just might explode when her fascination with serial killers collides with her ever-so-proper code of ethics.
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Cast
- Kathleen TurnerBeverly Sutphin
- Sam WaterstonEugene Sutphin
- Ricki LakeMisty Sutphin
- Matthew LillardChip Sutphin
- Scott MorganDetective Pike
- Walt MacPhersonDetective Gracey
- Justin WhalinScotty
- Patricia DunnockBirdie
- Lonnie HorseyCarl
- Mink StoleDottie Hinkle
- 88
Slant Magazine
Serial Mom is the strongest film of the post-midnight-movie chapter of John Waters’s career. - 70
The New York Times
Mr. Waters, of course, no longer traffics in the truly vulgar, as he did in early films like Pink Flamingos. With Serial Mom he concocts a cute suburban satire, a warmly funny movie that even a mother could love. - 60
Variety
Fun, almost endearing in its cheeky irreverence, but also rather mild and scattershot in its satiric marksmanship, Serial Mom provokes chuckles and the occasional raised eyebrow rather than guffaws and gross-outs. - 60
Washington Post
A one-joke comedy written and directed by an older, gentler John Waters, the film gets an enormous boost from Kathleen Turner's puckish portrayal of Beverly Sutphin. - 50
TV Guide Magazine
John Waters's film about a suburban mom turned serial killer lacks the bite it would need to be subversive, despite a few moments of vintage Waters tastelessness. - 50
ReelViews
While the idea sounds fertile, the execution is uneven, and the comedy sporadic at best. - 50
Washington Post
The real world has caught up with him, and [Waters'] off-kilter comedy seems disappointingly mundane and mainstream. - 50
Austin Chronicle
The gags are quick and barbed, but the wire seems blunted by the essentially one-note gag storyline.