'Serial Mom' and 'Snakes on a Plane.' Two films that - technically - shouldn't really ever be compared to each other because they're so radically-different. However, maybe the one thing they do have in common (besides sharing space in my DVD collection) is that they basically tell you all you need to know about the film in the title, therefore you should know what you're in for before you sit down to watch.Kathleen Turner plays the titular 'Serial Mom' - a wife and mother to a typical American suburban family who, on the outside, are perfect in every way. But, the family's 'dark secret' is clearly apparent in the title. She takes pleasure in messing with some people and even killing others.And, like 'Snakes on a Plane,' once you've given what little elaboration of the title is needed, there's not an awful lot left to say. If you're looking for an - extremely - black comedy then you'll definitely find one here. Kathleen Turner is brilliantly evil, but don't expect too much in the way of backstory as to why she's like the way she is. This film was made in the early nineties and I reckon that if something similar was produced today then we'd get a detailed backstory as to why she does what she does.Either way, the film is - as I said - darkly comic and kind of pokes fun of the media reaction of the day (again, if this film was remade then expect all sorts of internet-related jibes involving the social media reaction to such events becoming public).Oh, and if you ever watched Ricky Lake's talk show then you'll be surprised at what she used to look like before she had a studio audience standing behind her!

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!

A sweet mother (Kathleen Turner) takes a little too much at heart for the defense of her family.I love the constant references to other films, from "Blood Feast" to "Ghost Dad". The Cosby connection is even more unusual in light of all his terrible behavior.Roger Ebert awarded it an average two stars (out of a possible four) finding some of Waters' satire effective but feeling that Kathleen Turner's decision to portray her character's mental illness with realism instead of in a campy fashion, while brave, made the character difficult to laugh at, writing, "Watch Serial Mom closely and you'll realize that something is miscalculated at a fundamental level. Turner's character is helpless and unwitting in a way that makes us feel almost sorry for her—and that undermines the humor. She isn't funny crazy, she's sick crazy." I think Ebert is wrong. Not wrong in saying it was not as campy as it could be, but the offbeat humor adds something. John Waters is not comedy in any traditional sense, and it would be beneath him to make this a straight comedy (no pun intended). And, you know, this may be his most accessible film, one you can show to your non-cult friends and both enjoy.

I wasn't familiar with director John Waters or dark/black humor-except the Addams Family movies. But since 1993 to the present, I've familiarized myself w/ a lot more. For starters, this was my first movie by JW and one of the first with Kathleen Turner. I first watched this at age 13, so needless to say, I was rather naive then. I've owned it on VHS, DVD(both editions) so obviously, it's one of my favorites. Along with Kathleen Turner, it also stars Ricki Lake and Matthew Lillard as their adult kids, and Sam Waterston as a rather goofy husband. Most of the murders look so goofy, you can't possibly take this seriously, but maybe that was the point. Plus, her killing motives are goofy, not to mention ridiculous, although most involved slander of her family, subtle or major. Even after (finally) seeing Pink Flamingos- funny but gross) Cecil B. Demented-talk about bizarre) Cry-baby-some good musical numbers, both versions of Hairspray-both fairly enjoyable to me, and lastly, Pecker is probably my least favorite, Serial Mom remains my all-time favorite John Waters movie, to this day.