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Paul Rutledge,
Bryan Thomas,
Kelly Jones,
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Danny DeVito,
Danny DeVito
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: Warner Home Video
: Comedies, Black Comedy, Quest, Revenge
: 109 min.
: English, French
: English, Spanish, French
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Danny DeVito steps behind the camera for this darkly funny satire that combines elements of Barney and Friends with the real-life Pee-Wee Herman scandal while recalling the director's previously twisted black comedies Throw Momma From the Train (1987) and The War of the Roses (1989). Robin Williams stars as Randolph Smiley, a popular children's show host known professionally as "Rainbow Randolph." Dismissed from his beloved job when he's caught taking payola, Randolph becomes increasingly mentally unhinged and the target of his delusional revenge fantasies is Sheldon Mopes (Edward Norton), otherwise known as Smoochy, the fuchsia rhino character that has replaced him and soared to national popularity. Randolph soon learns that his ex-girlfriend and network executive Nora Wells (Catherine Keener) is sleeping with Sheldon, so he sets out to kill Smoochy, egged on by an unexpected ally: corporate president Marion Frank Stokes (Jon Stewart), who should be profiting from Smoochy's rise to fame, except for the fact that he and his cronies are unable to control the idealistic Sheldon's on-air agenda. Death to Smoochy (2002) co-stars Harvey Fierstein, Vincent Shiavelli, and Michael Rispoli. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
You might also enjoy:
Ruthless People
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Soapdish
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A Fish Called Wanda
Fast-paced modern screwball comedy also mixes highbrow with very lowbrow humor
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| not dumb enough to be funny, not smart enough to be fun
by jamkat79
March 24, 2004 - 2:42 PM PST
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2 out of 2 members found this review helpful
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This movie is all the more painful when you consider what it could have been. Danny Devito is going for something darkly comic and affectionately quirky; what he ends up with, however, is mean and senseless, a kooky script colored by poor writing and obvious gags. I have friends who love the movie, but I laughed exactly once.
Maybe a truly comic actor like Adam Sandler could have summoned up the dopey innocence needed to sell the Smoochy character, but Norton (much as I love him as an actor) fails.
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| Kiss this movie off
by underdog
October 25, 2002 - 11:07 AM PDT
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4 out of 5 members found this review helpful
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An almost loveable mess of a movie, this story of warring factions on a children's TV network has some genuinely inspired moments of lunacy and some great lines -- oh, and Catherine Keener, too. But it all adds up to... nothing, with an ending about as satisfying as warm, flat 7-Up. Danny deVito severely overdirects to a dizzying degree, almost as if he wasn't confident enough in the script. (Understandably.) Norton (as a crunchy granola Barney) is pretty funny, and Williams has his moments, but the whole thing gets tiresome pretty quickly -- especially as they add in way too many "mob" characters to keep track of. It's too bad -- it coulda been a contender. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.11)
162 Votes
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