Every great mom should be celebrated for the nurturing and comfort that they've provided this Mothers' Day. But Hollywood has a long history of movies featuring characters who'd never make the Mommy Hall of Fame. Not every mother is Claire Huxtable or June Cleaver, of course, but the momsters below elevate bad parenting to an art form. And we're not talking about those Mila Kunis movies where they claim the moms are "bad" for comedic purposes but they're really just learning to let their hair down; we're talking apron-clad psychos. Take a look at these maternal demons and thank your lucky stars that none of them gave birth to you.
19. Precious
Mary Lee Johnston is so toxic that after years of verbally, physically, and sexually abusing her daughter, Precious, she attempts to drop a television on her head.
18. Run
Run slowly pulls back the curtain on what initially appears to be a fun, loving relationship between single mom, Diane Sherman, and her wheelchair-bound daughter, Chloe. All appears well until some clues start coming in that make the daughter question a few things. Like: Why are the labels covered on her prescription bottles? Why are there pictures (hidden in the basement) of her standing on her own as a little girl, when she was always told that she's been a paraplegic since birth?
17. Split
After Penelope Crumb abuses her son, Kevin, he develops dissociative identity disorder, complete with 23 separate personalities and grows up to be a cannibalistic serial killer.
16. Carrie
Telekinetically-endowed Carrie White finally snapped after one too many pranks by the bullies who frequently targeted her at school. But Carrie's first -- and most constant -- taste of emotional and physical abuse came at the hands of her fanatically religious mother, Margaret.
15. White Heat
14. Kramer vs. Kramer
When Joanna Kramer walks out on her husband and their five-year-old son, Billy, he's devastated -- and Ted is completely unprepared to be an instant single father. He has no idea how to do laundry, can't cook and is utterly unfamiliar with Billy's school. Through much trial and much more error, Ted learns how to be a single parent and he and Billy forge an unshakable bond. He even sabotages his career (which results in his firing) so that he can devote more time to his little man.
Then, after having abandoned him for 15 months without making contact, Joanna shows up seeking full custody. The court does indeed grant her custody. Initially planning to appeal the decision, Ted learns that Billy will probably be questioned on the stand and he decides that his son has been through enough.
13. Run the Tide
College dropout Rey Hightower's mother, Lola, has never concealed her favoritism of his little brother, Oliver. But her drug addiction has prevented her from properly caring for either of them. When Lola is released from prison following a six-year stint, Rey heads for San Francisco with Oliver in an effort to protect him from their mom.
12. The Pursuit of Happyness
Based on a true story, The Pursuit of Happyness explores single father Christopher Gardner's pursuit of the American Dream in order to provide a better life for his son. After his attempts to sell Osteo National portable bone-density scanners (into which he sunk all of the family's savings) fail, Chris can't come up with the money to pay off his parking fine, which culminates in the Parking Authority placing a boot on his car. Consequently, his wife Linda leaves him and their son, Christopher, and moves to New York. Then, unable to make rent, father and son are evicted. Betting on himself and his long-term plan, Chris accepts a position as an unpaid intern with financial firm Dean Witter. During the six-month program, Chris and his son must sleep in homeless shelters and struggle to get by. But Chris never gives up -- which would mean giving up on his son's future.
11. August: Osage County
August: Osage County mostly centers on a gathering of the estranged members of the Weston family in Oklahoma's Osage County. The clan is brought together by the sudden disappearance of patriarch Beverly, a renowned former poet. A few days after the various daughters, boyfriends, sisters, sons-in-law and grandkids arrive, Beverly's wife, Violet, is informed by the sheriff that her missing husband has been found dead (by drowning) in a local lake.
The reunion allows the pill-addicted Violet to subject the tribe (and her newly hired housekeeper, Johnna) to her well-practiced emotional abuse and it becomes clear why the family and its members are dysfunctional. The new widow is in rare form exposing secrets and playing on insecurities at the post-funeral dinner. Eldest daughter Barbara is pushed so far that she physically attacks her.
10. Shazam
9. Let Him Go
After Margaret Blackledge manipulates her husband, George, into accompanying her on a dummy mission to retrieve their only grandson from his mother and her abusive new other half, the couple finds themselves in the crosshairs of the dangerous Weboy family. Weboy matriarch, Blanche, who owns the law in their 1963 Montana town, has no intention of giving the Blackledges the family reunion that they're hoping for. In order to prove that she means business, Blanche directs her sons to chop off George's hand -- for starters.
8. Manchester by the Sea
Elise Chandler is a full-blown alcoholic. Her addiction is so destructive that she once blacked-out on the living room couch bottomless, which is how her husband, son and brother-in-law discovered her after returning from a fishing trip. As a result, her husband Joe leaves her, gains custody of their son Patrick and names his clinically-depressed brother, Lee, Patrick's legal guardian in the event of his own untimely death.
7. Gone Girl
First, Amy Elliott Dunne frames her husband, Nick, for her murder. Then, after turning the nation against him and making him the only suspect -- she shows back up at their home covered in blood (she killed her ex-boyfriend in cold blood while she was away). Ordinarily, this would be a great time to file for divorce and never look back. Except the missus used Nick's sperm from a fertility clinic to get pregnant. So she essentially uses her unborn child as leverage to pressure him into agreeing to stay with her so that he can protect his son or daughter from the sociopath that he married.
6. Joker
Not only did Penny Fleck help to abuse her son, Arthur, as a child, she crushes his dream of becoming a stand-up comic as an adult. And considering the fact that they seem to share a bed and he bathes her (at the very least, he washes her hair while she's in the buff), Penny's fostered a creepy relationship with Arthur that's only gotten more disturbing with time.
5. Gone Baby Gone
Not only is Helene McCready an ignorant racist and a junkie, she's also a horrible parent. When Helene's three-year-old daughter, Amanda, is abducted from right under her coked-out nose, the police aren't sure if the culprit is the drug dealer from whom Helene stole $130,000, her drug-mule boyfriend or any of the other unsavory characters in her life.
4. The Others
Grace Stewart spends most of The Others being haunted by the ghosts that refuse to leave her home. But a twist ending reveals that Grace and her two children, Nicholas and Anne, are the real poltergeists because she murdered them -- and then committed suicide -- while her husband, Charles, was on the front lines during WWII.
3. The Northman
Prince Amleth's mother, Gudrun, was a queen for most of her life. First, she married his father, King Aurvandill. Then, after conspiring to have him and Amleth murdered, she married the king's brother, Fjolnir, who took Aurvandill's throne. When Amleth reunites with her years later, under the misperception that his mother had been kidnapped and held prisoner, Gudrun confesses her role in the coup, and offers to be her eldest son's bride if he kills her current husband and her youngest son.
2. The Suicide Squad
2. The Suicide Squad
Abner "Polka Dot" Krill's mother conducted unethical experiments on her children, which directly led to his being infected with an incurable and potentially lethal interdimensional virus, and later, becoming a career criminal (the experiments killed off some of his siblings). While on a black ops mission with his fellow Task Force X members, the suicidal Krill reveals that he doesn't like to hurt people but imagining that someone is his mom makes killing them easy.
1. The Accountant
Not long after Christian Wolff's childhood diagnosis of autism, his mother abandoned the family. Raising an autistic child is undoubtedly challenging but it takes a pretty cold heart to just up and leave.
Chris' father, a psychological warfare officer in the U.S. Army, arranged for he and his brother, Braxton, to be trained in various forms of combat so that neither would become victims in life. As adults, Chris is a wealthy money-launderer and marksman and Braxton is a world-class assassin -- but nobody messes with either of them.
Chris' father, a psychological warfare officer in the U.S. Army, arranged for he and his brother, Braxton, to be trained in various forms of combat so that neither would become victims in life. As adults, Chris is a wealthy money-launderer and marksman and Braxton is a world-class assassin -- but nobody messes with either of them.
Originally Posted 5/1/20
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