Serial Mom (1994)

IMDb plot summary: She's the perfect all-American parent: a great cook and homemaker, a devoted recycler, and a woman who'll literally kill to keep her children happy. Directed by John Waters. Starring Kathleen Turner, Sam Waterston, Ricki Lake, and Matthew Lillard.

I'm not a huge John Waters fan. He is visually drawn to the small "grossnesses" of life in a way that I find challenging to watch -- this film, for example, features some extreme close-ups of people eating. (And I haven't even seen any of his more notorious works!) But this is easily my favorite of the handful I've seen, largely because much of the comedy actually works. It's a funny script that is even funnier with Turner's wide-eyed innocent confidence in herself, as if she genuinely can't comprehend how she might have broken the social contract by becoming a murderer. The film also looks great, filled with bold cheerful colors that are a great contrast to the dark underbelly of the story. Definitely glad I picked this one up. How it entered my Flickchart: Serial Mom > Monsters Serial Mom < Woman in the Dunes Serial Mom > Talk Radio Serial Mom < Steven Universe: The Movie Serial Mom > True Grit (1969) Serial Mom > Moonwalker Serial Mom > M Serial Mom > Up in the Air Serial Mom < I Heart Huckabees Serial Mom > Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey Serial Mom > Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Final spot: #1083 out of 3440, or 69%.