Serial Mom (1994)

A lot of John Waters fans long for the days of Pink Flamingos and Desperate Living, but even by the time he did Female Trouble it was obvious he was tiring of having to come up with ways to shock audiences.  After Pink Flamingos that was pretty much just treading old territory, and he said at one point that he didn't want to be an old man making comedies featuring colostomy bags. 

So, beginning with Polyester, Waters started cleaning himself up.  I don't think he ever aimed for the mainstream - Hairspray is a rather strange movie when one gets down to it, despite it being PG, while Cry Baby was an interesting flop of a follow up that still has its charms.  Arguably his best movie since his mainstream breakthrough with Hairspray is Serial Mom, a fact that Waters would be in agreement on.

Beverly Sutphin (Kathleen Turner) lives in a sunny, well-kept Baltimore suburb with her husband Eugene (Sam Waterston) and two children, Misty (Ricki Lake) and Chip (Matthew Lillard).   She is the perfect mom, always having treats to hand out, organizing her trash so it is properly recycled and indulging in a mutual interest in birds with her husband, who happens to be a well-respected dentist.  She also likes to make frequent obscene phone calls to her neighbor Dottie (Mink Stole) as well as murder anyone who gets in the way of her idea of perfection. 

Detectives Pike (Scott Morgan) and Gracey (Walt MacPherson) first become interested in Beverly due to the phone calls, but soon become suspicious after the death of Chip's math teacher (John Badila), as her station wagon matches the car involved.  As it becomes harder for her to hide her secret life her family starts to suspect, as do Chip's girlfriend Birdie (Patricia Dunnock) and their mutual friend Scotty (Justin Whalin).  She is soon apprehended and, months later, rather than take an insanity plea she represents herself in a trial that becomes the biggest media circus in Baltimore's history. 

Serial Mom was released just months before O. J. Simpson allegedly murdered his girlfriend and a friend of hers, resulting in one of the biggest, and sensationalistic, trials of the 1990s.  John Waters spends a lot of time attending trials, as true crime is a hobby of his, so it is no surprise how he was able to predict the combination of celebrity and spectacle in a trial of this sort.  There was already an aura of awe around serial killers at this time and, being another favorite subject of Waters, he ran with it in a comedic manner.  The return to a skewering of '50s American values was also familiar territory for him since it had been his go-to since Desperate Living.  

Since he felt no need to include scenes just to shock - although there are a few meant to make viewers uncomfortable, and they are not the kills - Serial Mom concentrates largely on the plot and the comedy that arises from the idea.  Kathleen Turner, who was warned by her agent as well as other actor friends not to do this movie, gives it her all and, despite their warnings, probably had a longer career due to her agreeing to do it.  Too many actresses would have been tempted to really play it over the top, while Turner plays it as Waters wrote it, which pretty much takes it as far as it can go anyway. 

Matthew Lillard, who I found annoying in Scream, is great here as horror-loving son Chip.  Ricki Lake doesn't play a character too removed from what she has done with Waters before, and was getting a bit old to be playing teenagers by this time, but I think that is probably why she was cast in the role.  Mink Stole, as usual, is hilarious in one of her best uptight white suburban roles, while Patricia Hearst, Suzanne Somers and Traci Lords all make memorable appearances, as does L7 under the name "Camel Lips". 

I have always thought this was one of the best comedies of the 1990s, as well as one of Waters's best films, and I found more to enjoy in it now after all these years as I get a lot more of the references outside of horror films than I did at the time.  It is very much early 1990s, but doesn't feel dated as the movie was presented as a true crime reenactment, with opening credits claiming they were real events.  They weren't, but it makes for a great pretense, just as it did in Fargo.  Although his movie following this were occasionally amusing, this was the last truly great film from Waters, and it is nice to see it is still a blast.  

Serial Mom (1994)

Time: 95 minutes

Starring: Kathleen Turner, Sam Waterston, Ricki Lake, Matthew Lillard, Mink Stole

Director: John Waters