“Crazy Mama recounts the saga of a tri-generational matriarchy who, continually thwarted in their efforts to realize their version of the Great American Dream, get mad and strike back. The story opens in Southern California where Melba, her illegitimate daughter (on the verge of unwed motherhood herself), and her mother have just lost their beauty salon to a banker. As a flashback reveals, repossession is a phenomenon with which these women are painfully well-acquainted. Undaunted, the trio envision a new dream - to buy back the ranch which Melba's father lost in the '30s. So they head on home, back to Jerusalem, Arkansas. Crossing the Southwest, the caravan grows to include a little old lady, two boyfriends, and a sheriff who bigamously weds Melba in a Las Vegas roadside chapel. This motor trek also affords the occasion to secure funds necessary to finance their dream by a rash of crimes. Unfortunately their arrival home proves to be a pipedream of the most ironic sort, unleashing the final act of violent retaliation.
“As subsequent works such as Citizens Band (aka Handle with Care) and his latest, Melvin and Howard, reveal, Demme is a director primarily concerned with character nuance and idiosyncrasy. While his treatment of them in Crazy Mama is more pronounced by parody than compassion, the director displays an interest in family ties and how external circumstance subverts and perverts these bonds. Demme also manifests a fascination with that which is kitsch; Melba's lifestyle and the ensuing journey across the Southwest provide the camera with ample opportunity to revel in the sleak contours of toreador pants and the profusion of postcard ‘Wish you were here' architecture. And finally, Crazy Mama heartily endorses the Corman credo, ‘Make it fast, make it cheap, and make 'em laugh.'” --L.A. Thielen