Dysfunctional Families
Perhaps because it's something nearly all of us can relate to (apart from The Bradys), messed-up families have always been a popular subject for filmmakers in all genres. Whether you're playing it for laughs ('Arrested Development', 'Go For Zucker'), drama ('Kramer vs Kramer', 'Nil By Mouth'), or thrills ('The Quiet Family', 'Olivier, Olivier') the family dynamic is a deep well of ready-made love/hate relationships, seething resentments and hidden secrets. What more could a filmmaker, or a film-watcher, ask for!
The War Of The Roses (1989)
6.8/10
Director: Danny Devito
Starring: Danny DeVito, Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Marianne Sagebrecht, Sean Astin
A wickedly delightful screwball comedy about how Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner take their divorce to the battlefield and the house comes off the... Read more
Behaving Badly (1989)
6.6/10
Director: David Tucker
Starring: Judi Dench, Maurice Denham, Frances Barber, Joely Richardson, Ronald Pickup
Based on Catherine Heath's book, this 1989 four-part mini-series stars Judi Dench as a woman whose life is initially shattered when her husband decide... Read more
The Seventh Continent (1989)
7.8/10
Director: Michael Haneke
Starring: Dieter Berner, Udo Samel, Leni Tanzer, Birgit Doll
A provocative and chilling depiction of a family who have lost contact with one another. Anna and Georg live with their daughter Eva, and while every... Read more
Milou en Mai ( May Fools ) (1989)
7.2/10
Director: Louis Malle
Starring: Michel Piccoli, Miou-Miou, Dominique Blanc
An entertaining comedy of manners set against the backdrop of the 1968 student uprising in Paris, the film follows the Vieu-sacs as they converge on t... Read more
Miss Firecracker (1989)
6.1/10
Director: Thomas Schlamme
Starring: Holly Hunter, Mary Steenburgen, Tim Robbins
Playwright Beth Henley adapts her acclaimed serio-comedy set in a small southern town gearing up for its annual beauty pageant. With Holly Hunter and... Read more
Roseanne: Season 1 (1988)
7/10
Director: Various
Starring: Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, Alicia Goranson, Sara Gilbert, Mich...
Based on the caustic stand-up of its soon-to-be star Roseanne Barr, this series was a welcome antidote to sugary contemporaries like 'Full House' and... Read more
Married With Children: Season 3 (1988)
7.6/10
Starring: Amanda Bearse, Christina Applegate, Ed O'Neill, Katey Sagal, David Faustino, Dav...
Ed O'Neill, Katey Sagal. The third season presented an even more twisted look at the Bundy gang, TV's dysfunctional family of malcontents. Al, Peg and... Read more
Torch Song Trilogy (1988)
7.7/10
Director: Paul Bogart
Starring: Anne Bancroft, Matthew Broderick, Harvey Fierstein
Harvey Fierstein adapted his Broadway hit play about the trials and tribulations of being a sexually active, gay urban male in the 1970's for the big... Read more
Dead Ringers (1988)
7.3/10
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Jeremy Irons, Genevieve Bujold, Heidi Von Palleske
David Cronenberg does it again in this psychological horror film starring Jeremy Irons as a pair of disturbed, identical twin gynaecologists. A techni... Read more
Married With Children: Season 1 (1987)
8.1/10
Starring: Ed O'Neill, Katey Sagal, Christina Applegate, David Faustino, Amanda Bearse, Dav...
The Bundy Family has to be one of the most dysfunctional families in television and here they are in all their first season glory. 13 hilarious episo... Read more