Most Dysfunctional Movie Familes

Dysfunction doesn’t just run in these families, it practically gallops. From overbearing mothers to devious siblings, here's a look at some memorable movie families that come with lots of issues. 

Cruel Intentions (1999)

As Kathryn and Sebastian, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe are a pair of sinister step-siblings at the center of a deliciously diabolical wager involving sexual conquest without consequences -- which surely makes for interesting family reunions. 

Mommie Dearest (1980)

The Joan Crawford clan is dysfunctional with a capital "D." Faye Dunaway’s performance as the overbearing Crawford in this 1981 adaptation of Christina Crawford’s best-selling memoir still makes us afraid of wire hangers!

Raising Arizona (1987)

What’s a couple to do when they can’t conceive a child on their own? Just take one of the quintuplets born to a famous furniture salesman, of course! This Coen brothers classic stars Holly Hunter and Nicolas Cage as the childless couple who give new meaning to the phrase “family time.”  

The Grifters (1990)

As a mother and son working different angles of the con game, Anjelica Huston and John Cusack prove the family that steals together stays together -- at least until it's time to split the loot.

Kramer Vs. Kramer (1980)

This audience favorite may have centered on a family ripped apart at its seams, but there was one thing they didn’t have any trouble coming together on -- sweeping the Academy Awards. The film took home all four of the top trophies that year: Best Picture, Best Actress (Meryl Streep), Best Actor (Dustin Hoffman) and Best Director (Robert Benton).

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

A suicidal brother, an unsuccessful self-improvement specialist husband, a mute son, a heroin-addicted father-in-law and an unlikely beauty queen daughter. That’s what Sheryl Hoover (Toni Collette) has to deal with in this Oscar-winning comedy. Did we mention the daughter does a striptease to Rick James' "Superfreak" for the pageant’s talent competition? 

American Beauty (1999)

What does it take for a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis (Kevin Spacey) to turn his life around? An infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend (Mena Suvari), for starters. Also helpful? Living near a guy who collects Nazi dinner plates. 

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

For a family of geniuses, the Tenenbaums are easily duped when their estranged father, Royal, does what any patriarch would do to win back his family: Fake having a fatal disease. He would have been better off giving them more tweed jackets or getting something for his son's pet falcon. 

Ordinary People (1980)

A suicidal boy overcome by the accidental death of his brother. A mother that preferred her dead son to his surviving sibling. And a father who’s trapped between the two, trying to hold the family together. That’s the crowd that gathers around the dinner table in this Best Picture Oscar winner.  

The Godfather Trilogy (1972, 1974, 1990)

Even though we speak the truth, please don’t tell Don Vito Corleone that we called his family dysfunctional. We don’t want to wind up with a horse head in our bed.