With Love, Mommie Dearest dives into the tumultuous world behind making the 1981 film Mommie Dearest, transforming what began as a memoir into a camp comedy classic. The audiobook offers an in-depth look at how wealth and beauty do not necessarily equate to happiness and how being the child of a star can bring its own set of unique challenges. The narrative weaves through numerous quotes and interviews, shedding light on the intricate dynamics of Hollywood life and the volatile nature of stardom. This approach provides a rich tapestry of perspectives, though the audiobook might have benefited from a full cast to truly bring these diverse voices to life and create a more immersive experience.

For those eager to uncover all the behind-the-scenes tea on the actors, production, and the book that inspired such a cult phenomenon, With Love, Mommie Dearest doesn’t disappoint. It delves into Faye Dunaway's notorious reputation for being difficult on set—a label she rebuffs, instead describing herself as a perfectionist striving for the best possible performance. However, the book doesn’t shy away from addressing her overacting, contributing to the film's unintended hilarity and eventual status as a camp classic. Upon its release, the reactions to the film were a mix of shock and amusement. Audiences in theaters were often left incredulous at the series of hysterical scenes that seemed more like exaggerated pantomime than serious drama. The reaction of Christina Crawford, whose memoir the film was based on, was one of distress. Seeing her painful experiences transformed into what many saw as a farce was understandably upsetting.

With Love, Mommie Dearest captures the essence of this transformation from memoir to movie to cultural artifact, illustrating how a story meant to expose the dark side of Hollywood glamour turned into a comedic spectacle. It’s a fascinating listen for anyone interested in film history, celebrity culture, or the ways in which personal stories can be reshaped and reinterpreted by the media.

Quick Summary: With Love, Mommie Dearest offers an entertaining and insightful exploration of a film that has endured in popular culture for its unintentional comedy and dramatic excess. While the audiobook is engaging, a full cast performance could have elevated the experience, making it even more dynamic and interactive. Nonetheless, it remains a must-listen for fans of the original movie and anyone curious about the complexities of life under the spotlight.

If you were a big fan of the book or movie Mommie Dearest you're going to love this. Hoff takes you behind the scenes and delivers all the juicy gossip. It is a fairly easy listen and was somewhat entertaining even though I'm not into the Mommy Dearest situation.

I am going to admit, when I saw Mommie Dearest in the 80s, I00% loved the exaggerated actions of a movie star mom and her stubborn daughter (I was about 8 years old). Then when I got older, I read the book. I could not believe that I have misunderstood the movie and had to hunt it down and watch again. At that time, I had a whole new view on what happened in real life. This book interested me right from the start because I have since watched the movie and read the book, many times. I think Faye was brilliantly cast as Joan and this book helped me understand why she was so perfect for the role. What I also liked about this book was that we got to see what Maura and Diana (young and teenaged Christina) thought of the movie and the process of making the movie.

I do believe this book is for anyone that loves the film, but also a reader that wants to get the backstory behind such classic lines as “No wires hangers, EVER”.

Extremely insightful. I grew up watching this movie on HBO and found it deeply intriguing as a kid. I was heartbroken for Christina and her brother but almost taken by Dunaway’s Crawford who seemed so elegant, broken and sad onscreen.

It’s easy to be pulled into the time and the costumes and high expectations of Crawford while watching the film but this book pulls you out of their romanticized yet tragic lifestyle and directly behind the scenes which, unfortunately, both mirrored Crawford’s antics and truly impacted the careers of those involved.

We’re able to see the effect on Dunaway, on Christina Crawford and on the actors and crew on the film. It certainly wasn’t the film that all set out to make but not lacking in effort and still a success all the same. Even if it ended up a campy success. Unfortunately for Dunaway, it’s as if she’s taken on the criticism of Crawford’s naysayers and perhaps has mirrored similar antics herself meanwhile, Christina seems to have found a way to use the film to her advantage, whether or not she cared for it

Even though I was born well after Joan Crawford passed away, I grew up with her films and the camp classic Mommie Dearest, thanks to my own mother. Due to this, I was excited to listen to this audiobook and I thoroughly enjoyed this deep dive into the making of this film and ate up all the behind-the-scenes gossip about both Faye Dunaway and Joan Crawford. It was interesting to hear what went into making this movie and all the ways in which it almost never made it to the big screen. I also think that this did a good job interrogating the movie's mixed legacy as it's embraced as an enduring over-the-top comedy when its source material is anything but.

I thought that the audiobook narrator did a good job and I think that this story worked well in this format. There was a bit of repetition in some of the stories throughout the book, and sometimes I got a little confused about who was being quoted and who they were. Overall, I really enjoyed this and highly recommend it to all fans of Joan Crawford, Faye Dunaway, Mommie Dearest, and old Hollywood in general. Honestly, I can't wait to annoy everyone with random anecdotes and juicy facts from this book.

This audiobook was made available for me to listen to and review by A. Ashley Hoff, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley.

Kim Niemi was the narrator of this nonfiction history of the making of this movie and writing of this biography. Her voice is the perfect balance of serious and light. This tale has elements of surprise as well as farcical, this narrator manages to pull off both equally well.

Much of this narrative revolves around old Hollywood, both the original biography and the making of the film. I grew up in the 80's and this movie was a part of the cult media from that time period. I wasn't old enough to see this in theaters but I remember watching it on HBO. I've seen scenes from the movie, like the infamous wire hanger scene, spoofed on everything from Mad TV to RuPaul's Drag Race. The movie is a cultural phenomenon all on its own. I've never read Christina Crawford's biography but I've wondered about it. This nonfiction narrative offers the history of the biography, the movie and all of the stars involved in the making of both. The text is fascinating, light, fun and enlightening. I'm too young to really have grown up watching the height of Faye Dunaway's movie career and the most I knew about Joan Crawford before this book was unfortunately from the movie Mommie Dearest. So this offered a much appreciated education on the true story behind the movie and how the biography was received. This narrative primarily supports Christina's version of her childhood which fits our current understanding of the impact of childhood trauma and abuse and I've always personally believed. Not all of the scenes in the famous movie are taken from the book and this goes over who added the scene and what it was supposed to convey. I had heard that Faye Dunaway regretted her role in this movie and was disappointed it was received as camp despite its cult classic status. This goes over both Dunaway & Crawford's Hollywood legacies, including their history and reputation in the business. Christina's voice, so to speak, is threaded throughout this entire narrative and adds a note of authenticity to an otherwise odd piece of history.
This is a worthy biography of events that offers a multi-view approach to the telling of this fascinating tale of old Hollywood and how it functioned. I greatly enjoyed this and finished it in an afternoon. Then promptly watched the movie!

Thank you to A. Ashley Hoff, Tantor Audio, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

I simply loved every second of this book. The narrator was great, you could tell she was familiar with the movie when she would reference lines and parts of the movie. I think one of my favorite things about the book is that you not only get tidbits about the movie but also tidbits about Joan’s real life. Whether you are a fan of the movie, book, or Joan there’s something for everyone in this book. One of the funny things about Mommie Dearest was that for good or bad all these years after her death, people are STILL talking about Joan Crawford. And as they say in Hollywood these days, any press’s is good press. Joan managed to not get cancelled and people are still talking about her today, and I love that!

I have been a long time fan of the book and movie Mommie Dearest and had no idea there was such a big following!!! The book basically walks you through each scene and the actors involved. It was interesting but very redundant and could have been much more abbreviated as many of the interviews said the same things repeatedly. Overall, I liked it and it was a good backgrounder for the movie.

I was approved as an ARC for this book, I normally am not a true story reader but thought I’d try this one out. I wasn’t a big fan but I can say it was a good telling of the story with some cute facts I got to learn like about shoulder pads 😂. A nice book all the same just not for me so much.

I LOVE Mommie Dearest! What I loved even more was hearing about all of the drama and scandal that happened behind the scenes! I thought this was really well done and extremely entertaining!

I did not finish this book—I honestly wasn’t expecting there to be swearing, but as soon as I came across a use of the F-word, I had to put it down. It would have been interesting otherwise.

Mommie Dearest is a cult classic so I was excited to explore the background to the film and learn more about it, I really enjoyed the narration too, it was easy to follow.

Loved!
A wonderfully detailed look into the back story and making of the movie Mommie Dearest.
I thought it was a perfectly balanced narrative detailing the making of the movie and lives of the cast and whom the movie and book were based upon.
Funny at times and offering lovely little titbits throughout I really enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone with an interested in Hollywood past and present.
It offers such a thorough look into the subject I would say you wouldn’t even have to have seen the film to enjoy this book.
10/10 for narration.

I love this book listening to it. I love the two characters. I like how true that storyline in the movie was to the actual actor and I like how everything onset and offset, I like how they use props to mimic the world things and I like everything about the movie and audiobook and how honest this was it still culture thing that people love this movie and everybody gets a chance to read or listen to this!