Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

This is a terrible film. I find the idea of killing a number of people in the most gory way imaginable and dressing it up as humour, thoroughly offensive. But then again this comes from twisted weirdo John Waters - so why am I surprised? Serial Mom makes Police Academy 7 look funny. One to completely erase from your memory.

Sometimes we get ourselves stating we want to kill someone in specific, even thought we don't even mean it. Ms. Sutphin doesn't seem to understand it very well. For some reason-- which is, fortunately, never explained--, she takes everything too personally, murdering people all around for futile things they have done or said. Actually, Turner's character can NEVER be vexed, or the capital sin appears in the way. In the first scenes, "Serial Mom" strongly reminded me of 1990's "Edward Scissorhands", maybe due to the very American neighborhood both movies have designed. The most funny aspect of this movie is how everybody reacts when they find out Beverly is the lunatic; instead of getting scared, her relatives just try to help her out. In real life, obviously, people wouldn't react that way, and that's makes this a hardly black humor of a picture. The coolest scene to me, moreover, is the rock show; the band playing on "stage" is sooo junkie that they don't even notice what's going on in the crowd. On the other hand, the acting isn't that good, which is why I don't give it a better rating. All in all, please don't get me wrong and try to believe it when we all say it's a COOL movie!

This deliberately cheap and outrageous mix of camp laughs and gross shocks from cult filmmaker John Waters needs (cries out, really) for an outrageous star in the title role. As a suburban wife and mother--and closet psychopath--who coolly eliminates those in her community who stand in her family's way, Kathleen Turner is too grounded in reality for a cartoony black comedy. The actress definitely has a cool, casual demeanor (as written), but there are no fanciful notes in her throaty voice, and no natural sparkle of dementia in her manner. Waters enjoys tickling his audiences by putting otherwise-serious actors in incredibly gaudy situations and encouraging them to go for broke, and Turner was apparently enticed enough to tear into the project with relish. Unfortunately, though her approach to the part was probably what Waters wanted, she's too clear-eyed and focused for the pulpy material. One can sense Turner trying to find a comfortable niche here, trying to be wicked and silly, but it's mismatch of whacked-out visual humor (stunt humor that probably doesn't go far enough) and a star who weighs heavy on the punchlines like an anchor. ** from ****

If I was in the right state of mind, I would have hated this film because of the kind of story it is which seems to glorify mass murders. But, actually this film spoofs these crimes and the law enforcement/court trial that follows. This is a messed up film, but that doesn't stop from being a little funny, kind of creepy, and just a fun film in general.John Waters's film is about a middle-class, suburban housewife who seems content with her family, friends, and neighbors. But those who begin to disrespect her and her family, she brings out her secret identity and begins to terrorize them.The acting is quite good especially by Kathleen Turner. Many actresses would not have taken this role, but Turner did. She brought a new name to the word bipolar. One moment she has a sweet aura, the next moment she's a homicidal maniac. Turner was very brave in tackling a role like this.Overall, this is a pretty funny film that spoofs the law and order. The court scene in the end is a prime example of that. Some people may find this film sick, while others may find it funny. I thought it was pretty funny despite the gruesome murders. But I find it a good spoof of the American life and I loved how accurate Waters got all these details. I rate this film 8/10.