Metacritic reviews

Serial Mom is the strongest film of the post-midnight-movie chapter of John Waters’s career.

Mr. Waters, of course, no longer traffics in the truly vulgar, as he did in early films like Pink Flamingos. With Serial Mom he concocts a cute suburban satire, a warmly funny movie that even a mother could love.

Fun, almost endearing in its cheeky irreverence, but also rather mild and scattershot in its satiric marksmanship, Serial Mom provokes chuckles and the occasional raised eyebrow rather than guffaws and gross-outs.

A one-joke comedy written and directed by an older, gentler John Waters, the film gets an enormous boost from Kathleen Turner's puckish portrayal of Beverly Sutphin.

John Waters's film about a suburban mom turned serial killer lacks the bite it would need to be subversive, despite a few moments of vintage Waters tastelessness.

While the idea sounds fertile, the execution is uneven, and the comedy sporadic at best.

The real world has caught up with him, and [Waters'] off-kilter comedy seems disappointingly mundane and mainstream.

The gags are quick and barbed, but the wire seems blunted by the essentially one-note gag storyline.

I am not sure why this isn't very funny, but it's not.

Serial Mom has traces of Waters’ acid wit, but most of the movie is tame and overly conscious of its naughty felicities.