‘90s FAMILY : An Obsessive Parent Can Be a Real Killer for Happy Family

What’s Playing: “Serial Mom,” a dark, R-rated comedy at theaters citywide.

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Family Portrait: The Sutphins of suburban Baltimore are picture-perfect: Eugene Sutphin is a successful dentist. Daughter Misty is a budding flea-market entrepreneur, and son Chip is in high school. Caring for all three is Beverly, a sunny, meatloaf-making, gum-eschewing paragon of motherhood.

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Back Story: But a weird mind lurks behind Beverly’s Betty Crocker facade. When a neighbor refuses to recycle, Beverly hints that “for the good of the planet,” someone might kill her.

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Fuse Time: A lot of things tick Beverly off. But her homicidal tendencies flare when people pick on her family. Chip’s math teacher worries about the boy’s fascination with horror films and asks: “Is there a problem at home?” She runs him over.

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Telling Quote: “Look at me,” Beverly tells the jury at her murder trial. “I am as normal as all of you.”

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Prescription Pad: Actually, Beverly is seriously out of whack. But one of her reactions--lashing out any anyone who dares to criticize or hurt her children--isn’t that far-fetched, says Edna Herrmann, a clinical psychologist who practices in Los Angeles.

Some parents who feel inadequate come to view their children as extensions of their personalities, she says. In extreme cases, they become obsessed with ensuring their children’s success.

“They feel compelled . . . to remove all obstacles, to right all wrongs, to punish or eliminate all those that stand in the way of the children’s success and well-being,” she says.

Unfortunately, there’s no quick cure for such a parent, Herrmann says. In theory, a child could gently tell a parent to butt out.

“In a well-functioning family, these dialogues occur,” she says. “But you are not talking about a healthy family.”

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Media Monitor examines the family issues raised in current films, books and television shows. It appears regularly on the ‘90s Family page.