I loved her performance. It really was over the top, but I felt it was because her character, Martha, was over the top. I never once saw Jessica Lange - I only saw Martha.
When I first saw Alice, and the way she spoke, I thought Martha was trying to imitate herbadly. She was trying to put on the airs of gentility, without it being natural. Since she was originally a stable girl, she wouldn't have known how to behave the same way an old rich southern family would, except by imitation.
She also got away with a lot by her silly flirtatiousness. Like, when she was trying to get the sex of the baby out of the doctor - she was flirting up a storm. What was so disturbing was how she behaved the exact same way with Jackson. It's what she used to get what she wanted from men. Justew.
So, I think Jessica Lange really got this component of Martha's character and backstory, and nailed it. But, I also think they needed a little more dialogue to explain this part of her character - that Martha was the bad actress, who also happened to be a pro at manipulation.

I enjoyed her performance. I thought she bought out the manipulative evil stepmother in her character well.

Jessica Lange's acting isn't bad in this. The film's very professionally made. It's just that the storyline is weak.

It wasn't bad at all, nor was the movie.
People are just fickle when it comes to movies.
Swing away, Merrill.Merrill, swing away

she wasnt THAT bad.
it was rather like a 50s melodrama joan crawford performance, which i guess a lot of modern audiences find hard to swallow, but not nearly bad. nor all that overthetop when compared to the likes of faye dunaway in "mommy dearest" and meryl streep in almost every film she does nowadays.
"they should give nicole kidman an oscar for being able to show any emotion after THAT much botox".

This message has been deleted.

PRAY FOR ROSEMARY'S BABY!

That was entirely on purpose though. The character is a big phony, putting on false airs as a stylistic decision, and it's not as if she's supposed to come across as quite sincere or down to Earth to any of the other characters.
There are a few moments where she lets the mask slip off and Lange transitions into a completely different voice, a different accent, which is also very much on purposethe character is letting situations get the best of her and she has cracks in her poseur facade.
http://rateyourmusic.com/~JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies

This message has been deleted.

This message has been deleted.

She was great. It's one of my favorite Lange performances. She was certainly channeling Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in this one, to great effect.

She was over the top. It was like she was hamming it up, as though she was trying to be over-dramatic for laughs.