Cinema: Losing Face

MOMMIE DEAREST Directed by Frank Perry Screenplay by Frank Yablans, Frank Perry, Tracy Hotchner and Robert Getchell

It is not easy being a working mother—especially if your boss happens to be Louis B. Mayer and your job category is movie star. It is especially not easy if one of your adopted children turns out to be the spoiled and charmless brat portrayed in this silly movie about the domestic life of Joan Crawford. The sympathy one is supposed to feel for the poor little rich waif (played at different ages by Mara Hobel and Diana Scarwid) slides away from her and onto...

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