Search - Death to Smoochy (Widescreen Edition) on DVD

Absolutely fabulous

Monica Ramirez | Round Rock, TX United States | 04/01/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Robin Williams in perhaps the single most vicious, despicable, and possibly the very funniest role of his entire career. Edward Norton as a soy-dog devouring "bottle of pancake syrup with legs". Danny Devito as a low-down greaseball. Okay, two surprises and one standard role. All three shine in this Devito-directed self-proclaimed 'black comedy', which has sparked protests from parents nationwide. Why? Don't ask me. Despite the R rating in the US and the equivalent rating of AA (Adult Accompaniment) in Canada, there actually seem to be some twits out there who will take their kids to see this simply because kiddie shows happen to be the subject material. Therefore, I will warn you now: THIS IS NOT A CHILDREN'S MOVIE. That said, it's a hilarious satire of the world of children's television and a very satisfying parody of Barney the Dinosaur. (At last!) It's also just a thoroughly enjoyable story that only gets better the second time. It has a bumper crop of corrupt, nasty villains, including the gravel-voiced Harvey Fierstein. It has enough platitudes and slipped-in health tips from Norton's free-spirited character to make anybody sick. It even has a costumed Elvis Stojko doing what he does best-- figure skating. In other words, this is one movie I may not let my kids see, but I'll be staying up late to watch it myself again and again."

Completely whacked

ixion75 | 03/31/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If the image of gaudily dressed dwarves carrying flags with swastikas furiously skating after a bloated purple-blue rhinoceros on ice unleashes a chuckle in some far corner of your being, you just may be the small percentage of the population whose utterly wacked-out sense of humor will think _Death To Smoochy_ a comic classic. Don't ask me to explain that image, either; only a trip into the bowels of this strange, strange film will even begin to explain such a radical motif. A black comedy with an unremitting consciousness of its own bleakness, under Danny Devito's direction the quirky script and its half-mundane jokes becomes a harbinger of humanity's moral rancidity as well as a gem of galactically weird humor. How the two are ever balanced is a total mystery, and that may be part of the fun of watching such a festival of mordancy.The tone of the film is unlike anything I've ever seen: bizarre, caustic, inflammatory, even deranged. On one level the film is a send-up of children's television; on another level, it possesses a bitterness and and danger that is clearly adulthood at its most disturbing. I am not sure to what extent the criminal proceedings and the dark underworld of corporate executives that is portrayed in the film are genuine-- certainly some of this stuff must go on, but who can say to what extent? Yet as the film weaves its way through its gloomy portrayals of deceit, disloyalty and dishonor in the entertainment industry, it becomes readily obvious that _Smoochy_ is the edgiest and most extreme big-budget comedy in years, decades... or ever.Nothing is sacred here. Certainly not Robin Williams' hilarious "Rainbow Randolph," a character whose depravity of personality is all the more shocking when you take into consideration this is the esteemed actor who has been cramming a New Age feel-goodism down our gullets for the last two dozen of his films. The subtext of his ethical honor goes up in smoke in the first 5 minutes here. You will either be glad or you will grumble uncomfortably. This is just the beginning, however. Not even the film's star, Norton's "Smoochy," gets away scot-free: as he munches on an all-organic veggie dog smothered in almond butter in an early scene, one is not sure there is any character that isn't lampooned viciously. Catherine Keener's "Nora" is the worst of all: cold and soulless in the film's first half, her ruthlessness establishes an almost austere bitchiness; she is unfunny by the accident that she is more disturbing.If there is anything or anyone that is not skewered directly by the lamp glare of _Smoochy_ it is the kids themselves, who are somehow benignly outside this wretched grown up world of lies. _Smoochy_ is not without its flaws, among which are the imbalances within its characters' performances, which reach schizoid dimensions of love/hate and like/dislike. However, if you have the ability to suspend disbelief and (perhaps more importantly) possess a sick, twisted frame of mind, _Smoochy_ is a film you must see to simply look into the abyss and then, hopefully, 88 minutes later, return from it-- laughing."