Top 10 Dysfunctional Movie Families
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Script written by Tiffany Ezuma.
You think your family’s the only one that doesn’t get along? Think again! Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 most dysfunctional in movies.
For this list, we’ve picked dysfunctional families from the big screen based on the criteria that the families are not extremely dark with things like incest, physical violence, and murder as a part of their everyday interactions, so groups like the Corleones from “The Godfather” and the Joneses from “Precious” don’t count.
#10: The Dollys
Your dad’s abandoned the family to avoid drug charges while your mom’s not all fully there, leaving you and your 2 younger brothers to fend for yourselves. What do you do? Well, if you’re Jennifer Lawrence as the teenaged Ree Dolly, you embark on a mission to find that father who’s MIA and save your house. Her journey leads to the discovery that he’s not the only one in the family involved with drugs as well as quite a beating; proving that the brave Ree’ll do anything for the ones she loves.
#9: The Fratellis
When you come from a family of fugitives, it’s hard to be a good guy. And while terrorizing a group of kids is pretty unforgivable behavior, that doesn’t stop the Fratellis from engaging in it. After the Goonies stumble onto their hideout, the Fratellis go to great lengths to keep their location and criminal activity under wraps. They even torture poor Chunk! Luckily for us and the Goonies though, they’re more of the hare-brained villain variety so it’s easy to see that how the kids would outsmart them.
#8: The Jarretts
While grief binds some families, it can also cause others to struggle to keep it together—the Jarretts would fall in the latter category. In this Oscar-winning drama directed by Robert Redford, the upper-middle class family must cope with living life after one of the family’s sons dies in a boating accident. Meanwhile, youngest son Conrad is plagued by guilt over his brother’s death and tries to commit suicide, which doesn’t exactly inspire feelings of motherly love and protection from the cold matriarch.
#7: The Hoods
This movie is stacked with actors like Kevin Kline, Tobey Maguire, Sigourney Weaver, and Christina Ricci, who all bring a level of authenticity to their roles as members of two messed up families living in Connecticut. Set during Thanksgiving, the most dysfunctional time of the year, the Hood family is entwined with the Carver family, as parents from each clan carry out affairs and attends swingers’ parties. The kids don’t fare much better as they try to navigate their own sexual hang-ups. The critically acclaimed movie may’ve been a major flop at the box office, but their dysfunction is hard to forget.
#6: The Berkmans
It’s hard to think of a family more cringe-worthy to watch on-screen. After the parents divorce, the two sons start to pick sides between their mother and their father. But neither parent is a good option, since the dad seems to have some crazy ego problems and the mother is too caught up in her own drama and dating life. And let’s just say that neither son reacts particularly well. The fact that the movie is a semi-autobiographical endeavor by director Noah Baumbach makes it that much harder to swallow.
#5: The Solatanos
The best thing about the Solatanos may be how they believe they are normal; meaning dysfunction never looked so delusional! After the family’s bi-polar son, Pat Jr., gets out of the hospital, the family’s put to the test when he tries to get back with his ex and befriends a young widow in the process. That’s not to say that his parents are 100% normal, as Robert De Niro portrays his Philadelphia Eagles-obsessed father with his own ticks and rituals. The film was an instant success, earning Jennifer Lawrence an Oscar and making over eleven times its budget.
#4: The Griswolds
There’s no dysfunctional family quite as fun to watch as the Griswolds. They can’t ever seem to have a vacation without a major breakdown and their Christmas adventure is no exception. In this comedy, Clark, the family’s patriarch, tries to get the family in the holiday spirit, but fails miserably at simple tasks like buying a tree and putting lights on the house. The movie has become a modern Christmas classic and we’re thankful we can all be honorary members of the Jelly of the Month Club.
#3: The Hoovers
They may be a family full of losers, but their love for each other is palpable. If they had to, the Hoovers would move hell and high water to get their awkward daughter, Olive, to her beauty pageant on time. With a heroin-addicted grandfather, a brother who refuses to speak, and a suicidal uncle, Olive stands little to no chance of making it in the world, but this family doesn’t let its own faults bring her down. Made for only $8 million, the comedy-drama was a wild box office success and raked in a whopping $100 million.
#2: The Burnhams
All we can say is poor Jane Burhnam. Played by Thora Birch, she’s the teenage daughter of two parents who just can’t seem to get their lives together. In one of his best roles to date, Kevin Spacey plays the family patriarch who, while having a midlife crisis, quits his job and tries to pursue his daughter’s cheerleader friend. As the mother, Annette Bening is no better, since her biggest concern seems to be selling a house and cheating on her husband. The family’s dysfunction felt so real that the movie took home 5 Oscars.
Before we unveil our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions:
- Helge, Michael, Helene & Else
“The Celebration” (1998)
- The Buckmans
“Parenthood” (1989)
- The Castorinis
“Moonstruck” (1987)
- The McCallisters
“Home Alone” (1990) & “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” (1992)
- The Westons / Fordhams
“August: Osage County” (2013)
#1: The Tenenbaums
Director Wes Anderson has a penchant for creating dysfunctional families, like the brothers in “The Darjeeling Limited,” but it’s with “The Royal Tenenbaums” that he truly outdid himself. Loosely based on J.D. Salinger’s Glass family, the Tenenbaums are a rich, eccentric clan of three badly adjusted adult siblings and the parents who messed them up. As the titular Royal Tenenbaum, Gene Hackman is at his best as the absentee father who comes back into the lives of his kids after abandoning them when they were all young child prodigies. Their interactions with one another may be absurd, but they’re also highly entertaining to watch.
Do you agree with our list? Which big screen family is the most cringe-worthy? For more can’t miss Top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.
Top 10 Dysfunctional Movie Families
You think your family’s the only one that doesn’t get along? Think again! Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the top 10 most dysfunctional in movies.
For this list, we’ve picked dysfunctional families from the big screen based on the criteria that the families are not extremely dark with things like incest, physical violence, and murder as a part of their everyday interactions, so groups like the Corleones from “The Godfather” and the Joneses from “Precious” don’t count.
#10: The Dollys
“Winter’s Bone” (2010)
Your dad’s abandoned the family to avoid drug charges while your mom’s not all fully there, leaving you and your 2 younger brothers to fend for yourselves. What do you do? Well, if you’re Jennifer Lawrence as the teenaged Ree Dolly, you embark on a mission to find that father who’s MIA and save your house. Her journey leads to the discovery that he’s not the only one in the family involved with drugs as well as quite a beating; proving that the brave Ree’ll do anything for the ones she loves.#9: The Fratellis
“The Goonies” (1985)
When you come from a family of fugitives, it’s hard to be a good guy. And while terrorizing a group of kids is pretty unforgivable behavior, that doesn’t stop the Fratellis from engaging in it. After the Goonies stumble onto their hideout, the Fratellis go to great lengths to keep their location and criminal activity under wraps. They even torture poor Chunk! Luckily for us and the Goonies though, they’re more of the hare-brained villain variety so it’s easy to see that how the kids would outsmart them.#8: The Jarretts
“Ordinary People” (1980)
While grief binds some families, it can also cause others to struggle to keep it together—the Jarretts would fall in the latter category. In this Oscar-winning drama directed by Robert Redford, the upper-middle class family must cope with living life after one of the family’s sons dies in a boating accident. Meanwhile, youngest son Conrad is plagued by guilt over his brother’s death and tries to commit suicide, which doesn’t exactly inspire feelings of motherly love and protection from the cold matriarch.#7: The Hoods
“The Ice Storm” (1997)
This movie is stacked with actors like Kevin Kline, Tobey Maguire, Sigourney Weaver, and Christina Ricci, who all bring a level of authenticity to their roles as members of two messed up families living in Connecticut. Set during Thanksgiving, the most dysfunctional time of the year, the Hood family is entwined with the Carver family, as parents from each clan carry out affairs and attends swingers’ parties. The kids don’t fare much better as they try to navigate their own sexual hang-ups. The critically acclaimed movie may’ve been a major flop at the box office, but their dysfunction is hard to forget.#6: The Berkmans
“The Squid and the Whale” (2005)
It’s hard to think of a family more cringe-worthy to watch on-screen. After the parents divorce, the two sons start to pick sides between their mother and their father. But neither parent is a good option, since the dad seems to have some crazy ego problems and the mother is too caught up in her own drama and dating life. And let’s just say that neither son reacts particularly well. The fact that the movie is a semi-autobiographical endeavor by director Noah Baumbach makes it that much harder to swallow. #5: The Solatanos
“Silver Linings Playbook” (2012)
The best thing about the Solatanos may be how they believe they are normal; meaning dysfunction never looked so delusional! After the family’s bi-polar son, Pat Jr., gets out of the hospital, the family’s put to the test when he tries to get back with his ex and befriends a young widow in the process. That’s not to say that his parents are 100% normal, as Robert De Niro portrays his Philadelphia Eagles-obsessed father with his own ticks and rituals. The film was an instant success, earning Jennifer Lawrence an Oscar and making over eleven times its budget.#4: The Griswolds
“National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (1989)
There’s no dysfunctional family quite as fun to watch as the Griswolds. They can’t ever seem to have a vacation without a major breakdown and their Christmas adventure is no exception. In this comedy, Clark, the family’s patriarch, tries to get the family in the holiday spirit, but fails miserably at simple tasks like buying a tree and putting lights on the house. The movie has become a modern Christmas classic and we’re thankful we can all be honorary members of the Jelly of the Month Club.#3: The Hoovers
“Little Miss Sunshine” (2006)
They may be a family full of losers, but their love for each other is palpable. If they had to, the Hoovers would move hell and high water to get their awkward daughter, Olive, to her beauty pageant on time. With a heroin-addicted grandfather, a brother who refuses to speak, and a suicidal uncle, Olive stands little to no chance of making it in the world, but this family doesn’t let its own faults bring her down. Made for only $8 million, the comedy-drama was a wild box office success and raked in a whopping $100 million.#2: The Burnhams
“American Beauty” (1999)
All we can say is poor Jane Burhnam. Played by Thora Birch, she’s the teenage daughter of two parents who just can’t seem to get their lives together. In one of his best roles to date, Kevin Spacey plays the family patriarch who, while having a midlife crisis, quits his job and tries to pursue his daughter’s cheerleader friend. As the mother, Annette Bening is no better, since her biggest concern seems to be selling a house and cheating on her husband. The family’s dysfunction felt so real that the movie took home 5 Oscars.Before we unveil our number one pick, here are a few honorable mentions:
- Helge, Michael, Helene & Else
“The Celebration” (1998)
- The Buckmans
“Parenthood” (1989)
- The Castorinis
“Moonstruck” (1987)
- The McCallisters
“Home Alone” (1990) & “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” (1992)
- The Westons / Fordhams
“August: Osage County” (2013)
#1: The Tenenbaums
“The Royal Tenenbaums” (2001)
Director Wes Anderson has a penchant for creating dysfunctional families, like the brothers in “The Darjeeling Limited,” but it’s with “The Royal Tenenbaums” that he truly outdid himself. Loosely based on J.D. Salinger’s Glass family, the Tenenbaums are a rich, eccentric clan of three badly adjusted adult siblings and the parents who messed them up. As the titular Royal Tenenbaum, Gene Hackman is at his best as the absentee father who comes back into the lives of his kids after abandoning them when they were all young child prodigies. Their interactions with one another may be absurd, but they’re also highly entertaining to watch.Do you agree with our list? Which big screen family is the most cringe-worthy? For more can’t miss Top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.
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