Death to Smoochy

This movie was hated by critics and bombed at the box office, but I actually liked this movie, It's my biggest guilty pleasures of all time.

The story is about a puffy fascia rhinoceros. As Smoochy catapults to fame - scoring hit ratings and the affections of a jaded network executive Randolph makes the unsuspecting rhino the target of his numerous outrageous attempts to exact revenge and reclaim his status as America's sweetheart.

The good things about this movie: The movie is a dark comedy and to me that worked, because when you got a story about Robin Williams trying to kill or ruin a kid friendly pink rhino called Smoochy, you really can't take that seriously and the movie is aware of that and takes it like a joke. Edward Norton and Robin Williams both did great in this movie. Trying to beat each other to win the kids hearts by taking some dark turns.

The thing that didn't work: As I said before about the dark comedy and how it worked for me, well some scenes it lost that dark but funny tone and goes full serious at times. Some jokes didn't work for me and Danny DeVito directed this, now let me get something straight here; I don't hate Danny DeVito directing in this movie or any other movies that he did, his a good actor and a good director, but everybody can agree that most of his films allow on awkward close ups of actors looking straight into the camera or goofy and weird scenes with characters doing awkward stuff, all that is is this movie and let me tell you it's not pretty.

Overall it's not a perfect movie but to me it's a lot of fun, but it's not for everybody, but if you want some cheesy, goofy fun than Smoochy is your film.

After children's TV host Randolph "Rainbow Randolph" Smiley (Robin Williams) is publicly disgraced following a bust in an FBI sting operation, Children's TV network Kidnet swiftly cancels the show with a plan to replace it with someone who's lacking in the baggage of negative publicity. Hardened producer Nora Wells (Catherine Keener) and corporate yes man, Marion Frank Stokes (Jon Stewart) scramble to find someone "squeaky clean" eventually settling for Sheldon Mopes(Edward Norton) and his character Smoochy the Rhino, who sings songs at the Coney Island Methodone Clinic and is sincere and ethical almost to a fault. Sheldon soon finds himself fighting for integrity of both his show and his character as network executives, marketing departments, corrupt charities, even the Irish Mafia all develop an interest in Mopes and his Rhino persona. Meanwhile Randolph continually seeks and orchestrates elaborate revenge schemes against mopes becoming more and more unhinged.

A joint British-American co production between Warner Bros. And Film Four, the movie was written by Adam Resnick best known for his work on The Larry Sanders Show as well as his work on Chirs Elliot's TV series Get a Life and the Chris Elliot film Cabin Boy. The movie is a satire of the vapidness and cynicism of the children's entertainment, particularly inspired by Barney the Dinosaur, and takes great pleasure in tearing away the veneer of wholesomeness to reveal the cynical money hungry monster beneath the cuddly foam suit. The film is notable for being a box office disaster making back a mere $8 million of its $50 million budget and in combination with the failure of the following year's Duplex destroyed Danny Devito's directing career in feature films. Roger Ebert even declared the movie the worst of 2002 (it's not). The movie is certainly flawed, but I'd be lying if I said the movie's pitch black gleefully insane takedown of marketing icons masquerading as wholesome children's entertainment didn't raise a few laughs.

The movie from the get go is definitely and unapologetically a Adam Resnick project. From it's seemingly innocent framework that is loaded with uncomfortable and taboo subject matter, it's a similar approach to how Resnick took the Dennis the Menace format with Get a Life and got comedy from it by way replacing an 8 year old kid with a 35 year old man. Unlike Get a Life the movie does try to have a "good" character who we're supposed to root for with Sheldon Mopes. It's pretty clear that Resnick is in unfamiliar territory trying to write characters who are supposed to be principled and ethical and Sheldon at points feels more like a parody of someone principled and ethical rather than someone who's supposed to be principled and ethical. I'm not sure what exactly the issue is if it falls more on Resnick who doesn't usually write characters like this or if it falls more on Edward Norton who's not typically a comic actor (at least as it pertains to this very broad exaggerated style of comedy). There are moments where Norton's delivery in the character do work such as a scene where he's tricked by Rainbow Randolph into performing as Smoochy for an event that isn't what he was told it was, but the scenes of him playing for sincerity straight just come off as odd for reasons I can't put my finger on.

The movie's best asset is definitely in its unapologetically cruel take on its subject matter, showing the majority of children's TV hosts as being drug addicts, pedophiles, perverts, alcoholics, or subject to some other vice that rules their lives and the studio and network are happy to ignore so long as it doesn't spill over into the public eye. It's a stomach churning take that also manages to be darkly humorous thanks in no small part to a committed assortment of actors such as Danny Devito, Harvey Firestein, Danny Woodburn, Jon Stewart and Catherine Keener who all play their roles very well and create an intriguingly repellent world of foam covered hypocrisy. But easily the best performance belongs to Robin Williams, who plays a disgraced Captain Kangaroo style children's TV host who becomes more insane in his attempted takedowns of Sheldon and his Rhino persona Smoochy with his schemes and meltdowns being comedic highlights of the film.

The movie unfortunately loses its edge a bit in a third act that starts off well enough involving a smoochy centric ice show that starts off quite well with a retelling of many of the events of the movie as done by figure skaters that's very entertaining, but it loses its teeth in the final 10 minutes by offering redemption for Rainbow Randolph and not even having the guts to show the ultimate fate of our main antagonists. If I had to guess I'd say this was most likely a studio note to soften the edges of what I can only guess may have been a darker script.

Death to Smoochy is a flawed film, but it's also very entertaining with a decent skewering of Children's entertainment and a twisted sense of humor. While certain elements work better than others I think the film is a very well done dark comedy that doesn't pull its punches (mostly).

I have watched this movie four times by now, and it still keeps on being funny. And there is just something uniquely odd about the comedy in the movie which makes "Death to Smoochy" a fantastic comedy movie.

The story told in "Death to Smoochy" is just hilarious. It is about a vindictive former children show star, Rainbow Randolph (played by Robin Williams) who seeks revenge on Smoochy, the new star who replaced his time slot on the network TV. Smoochy (played by Edward Norton) is a gullible person unfamiliar with the way of running children's TV.

There are tons of hilarious situations throughout the entire movie, and they are well-played by the acting talents, and also accompanied by funny dialogue. The characters are colorful - literally and physically. And they all have very real and lovable qualities. I especially love how Rainbow Randolph's appearance becomes more and more ravaged throughout the time.

"Death to Smoochy" is, in my opinion, one of Robin Williams best movies.

There is an impressive ensemble of talents in this fine comedy, and people deliver where it counts.

If you are not already familiar with "Death to Smoochy", then it is a movie well-worth sitting down to watch. Great fun and laughs all around.

I've never seen a Danny De Vito film I didn't like, and Smoochy is no exception. Original and creative at every turn, with great performances from Edward Norton, Robin Williams, Catherine Keener, and everyone else in the cast. I smiled and/or laughed through the whole film. What more can you ask from a bent and twisted comedy, I ask you?

I would be wrong if I said that Danny DeVito's films were made with full intent to capture the realisms of life, and it is because of his ability to portray an eccentric world (or relationship) that he is able to made the most original and entertaining characters known to film.

For example, although he didn't create the character Matilda, he was able to portray the girl with telekinetic ability in a very effective manner in the film of the same name. And also the characters in 'War of the Roses' were thoroughly over-the-top, but it was because of this that the films directed by the short man were so entertaining.

'Death to Smoochy' was no exception. It is because of the over-the-top characters that it is so funny. Edward Norton's character in particular is hilarious just because of the OTT reactions the 'atrocities' of the world draw out of him, and the overly-nice attitude he oozes.

There are other things that create humour. The lines are hilariously witty and even the facial expressions created by some of the characters give the film replay value. So IS there anything wrong with it?

I, personally, don't believe the dated storyline creates an obstruction, but I do feel that there is a problem with the dramatic character arcs. The biggest example of this is Robin Williams' character who goes, in one scene, from being ridiculously hateful, to wanting nothing more than to save his ex-arch-rival. This is where the over-the-top obstructs believability, although it doesn't do enough to make me dislike the film even partially.

The film, although flawed only by the very dramatic character arcs, is thoroughly enjoyable, and DeVito sprinkles just enough dramatic camera angles to support the extremity of the storyline. It is a rare gem, battered at the box office, but very safe in my collection of favourite DVDs.

Enjoy.

-Stoate.