The 20 Worst Movie Moms

20. Jennifer Grogan (Jennifer Aniston -- Marley & Me)

Why She’s Terrible: She uses a dog as a baby substitute and then the minute she pops out a litter of her own she’s all, “Get this mutt out of here.” Post-partum depression, or just an asshole?

Possible Redemption: She lets the dog stay. Then it dies.

19. Katie Bueller (Cindy Pickett -- Ferris Bueller's Day Off)

Why She’s Terrible: Forget that she clearly favors Ferris over Jeanie and wouldn’t notice her boy’s antics if he were tap-dancing on her forehead—her parenting skills have to be questioned when her offspring are a wound-up testicle-crusher and a smug d-bag.

Possible Redemption: How much more 80s can she look? None. None more 80s.

18. Annette Atkins (Ellen Barkin -- Drop Dead Gorgeous)

Why She’s Terrible: With every toy that fires plastic missiles to sippy cups being recalled and banned, aren’t we at the point where beauty pageants are declared dangerously unhealthy for kids? Annette throws in some serious redneck-ness to round things out nicely.

Possible Redemption: In the world of pageants, she’s far from the worst offender.

17. Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft -- The Graduate)

Why She’s Terrible: Look, you can’t fault a cougar for prowling, but once her young stud starts dating her own daughter, you’d think she’d back off a bit rather than force the guy to choose a side. Coo-coo-catchoo, indeed.

Possible Redemption: Honestly, her daughter could do better. Hell, so could she.

16. Mama Boucher (Kathy Bates -- The Waterboy)

Why She’s Terrible: Raising a kid in bayou shack is pretty much strikes 1 and 2 in his life, but sheltering him to the point of obsession is strike 3. Congratulations, you have created a football-playing Of Mice and Men character.

Possible Redemption: Well, at least he took to football and not making Ned Beaty squeal like a pig.

15. Kate McCallister (Catherine O'Hara -- Home Alone)

Why She’s Terrible: Forgetting to pack a toothbrush or birth-control pills is one thing, but forgetting to pack a child is unforgivable, even if it is a Culkin.

Possible Redemption: She does do everything short of turn tricks to get back home, so that’s something at least.

14. Linda Gardner (Thandie Newton -- The Pursuit of Happyness)

Why She’s Terrible: Financial troubles are a bitch, but Linda just walks out on her husband and son. How much more Will Smith does he have to be to convince her he’s a good man?

Possible Redemption: Without her digging the pit of despair, Smith and son would have nothing to rise out of.

13. Viola Fields (Jane Fonda -- Monster-in-Law)

Why She’s Terrible: Any woman that creepily obsessed with her own son is a Court TV re-enactment waiting to happen. Given her way, he’d have to have his suits tailored-made to accommodate an umbilical cord.

Possible Redemption: Viola is a former news anchor, so she was pretty much needy, emotionally bankrupt, and vapid from the word “go.”

12. Kathleen Cleary (Jane Seymour -- Wedding Crashers)

Why She’s Terrible: Cut from the Mrs. Robinson mold, Kathleen takes things a step further by cougar-ing at the dinner table in clear view of her entire family and probably one or two of the Kennedys.

Possible Redemption: It’s impossible to find Jane Seymour that repellant. It’s science.

11. Kate Baker (Bonnie Hunt -- Cheaper By the Dozen)

Why She’s Terrible: It takes a village to raise a baby, but that doesn’t mean you have to populate the village yourself. We have the uncontrollable uterus of Kate to thank for the Pitt-Jolies and the Octo-mom.

Possible Redemption: Her eldest is the Last Son of Krypton. She should have stopped there.

10. Evelyn Gardner (Bitty Schram -- A League of Their Own)

Why She’s Terrible: There are full-grown men who can’t handle themselves for an entire baseball season, and Evelyn expects a five year-old to move from city to city on a diet of candy bars and resentment?

Possible Redemption: Obnoxious, fat, and unruly? Kid’ll make a great manager.

9. Helen Tasker (Jamie Lee Curtis -- True Lies)

Why She’s Terrible: You know, it’s not even that she ignores her daughter, is willfully ignorant of her husband’s profession, and sees nothing wrong with playing a prostitute. The fact she’d consider sleeping with Bill Paxton does her in.

Possible Redemption: She does kick Tom Arnold in the nuts and catfights Tia Carerre. So there’s that.

8. Phyllis Nefler (Shelley Long -- Troop Beverly Hills)

Why She’s Terrible: Forget the last reel redemption, Phyllis is the kind of dithering, over-privileged social ill that inflicted Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian on us in the first place. Watching her train a new batch is like watching a horror film.

Possible Redemption: Damn, we just can’t resist a Thin Mint cookie.

7. Dr. Dakota Block (Marley Shelton -- Grindhouse: Planet Terror)

Why She’s Terrible: Long before she leaves her kid alone in the front seat of her car with a LOADED GUN, Dakota was clearly oblivious to her husband’s (Josh Brolin) simmering timebomb of a personality. Marriage fail.

Possible Redemption: Zombies. They pretty much take all parenting rules off the table.

6. Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone -- Casino)

Why She’s Terrible: Take your pick—she’s a cokehead, a hustler, she hangs around with James Woods, she lives in Vegas…there’s so much wrong with her it’s staggering.

Possible Redemption: By Vegas standards, she’s considered June Cleaver.

5. Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton -- Terminator 2: Judgment Day)

Why She’s Terrible: When a son has to break his mother out of a mental institution, you can suspect things have gone wrong at some point in their relationship. When the closest thing the boy has to a father is an android killing machine, you can pretty much confirm it.

Possible Redemption: To Sarah’s credit, knowing you’re responsible for the fate of humanity would turn anyone into a raisin cake.

4. Martha Thomas (Desiree Gould -- Sleepaway Camp)

Why She’s Terrible: Martha, can we just agree that Nature selects a child’s gender, and you stay the hell out of the process. How could you not know you were tailor-making a serial killer?

Possible Redemption: Um…at least they were someone else’s kids originally. Sorry, that’s all we have.

3. Etheline Tenenbaum (Angelica Huston -- The Royal Tenenbaums)

Why She’s Terrible: A stuffy, self-important and icy mother whose brood of equally self-absorbed offspring tell you all you need to know.

Possible Redemption: Has good taste in men (Gene Hackman and Danny Glover? Not too shabby, lady).

2. Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway -- Mommie Dearest)

Why She’s Terrible: She doesn’t have a single redeeming quality as a human being, much less a mother. She’s an abusive, preening egotist, her shouting things like “Christina, bring me the axe!” is more terrifying than anything coughed up by Freddy or Jason.

Possible Redemption: Well, Hell’s dinner theater improved a little bit.

1. Margaret White (Piper Laurie -- Carrie)

Why She’s Terrible: We’re pretty sure there’s a master list of “People You Don’t Want As your Mom” somewhere and right at the top there’s “Fanatical Religious Zealot shut-in with sex hang-ups and a violent streak.”

Possible Redemption: Well, she at least goes out like a saint.

Check out our sister site WomansDay.com for its list of Top 10 TV Moms.