One of the most difficult roles for an actor to take is that of another actor. The problems that type of role entails are exponentially greater when a movie star plays another movie star. How does someone who has become famous for having a particular persona effectively communicate some other famous person's persona? Faye Dunaway plays Joan Crawford like a woman who is not playing a public persona, but has so contorted herself in order to be famous that she has no idea who she really is. While there is a fascinating psychological problem to play with in that conception, the direction and screenplay are so over-the-top, so full of the prurient thrill of Hollywood Babylon gossip, Dunaway is left out to dry. Very few times in history has an actress worked this hard and been given no help from the director or the other actors. The film is not interested in a character, it is interested in a freak show, and Dunaway so commits to the performance that she elevates the film from forgettable mess into one of the all-time classic turkeys. Many people find it easy to laugh at Mommie Dearest, but Faye Dunaway probably is not one of them.