Drowning Mona

Rating:
Summary: The tone didn't hit the right key.
Review: There were a few funny moments, but nowhere near enough to recommend the film. This was a screenplay in dire need of a rewrite. They either needed to make it darker or lighter; the "in-between" tone didn't work at all. I do agree with one of the descriptions in an earlier review regarding Casey Affleck's acting. He annoyed the hell out of me. Jamie Lee Curtis was decent, but Danny Devito looked like he didn't care a whole lot. Bette Midler had some funny moments, but she wasn't in the film much. That, for her career, was a plus.

Rating:
Summary: Fine entertainment
Review: While not a masterpiece, this movie provides good, solid entertainment. The director's commentary is ver enjoyable addition to this film.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad
Review: Not a bad movie. Not the best, but good for a few laughs. Some of the acting is certainly questionable, but all the stars do just fine.

Better Midler plays Mona Dearly, a crude, rude, short-tempered know-it-all who's hated by just about everybody in town. When she dies to obvious foul play, just about everybody she knew had a motive. Danny DeVito plays the small-town sheriff who gives it his all to do his job right. DeVito is the bright spot in this movie. Bobby was an endearing character but Casey Affleck, although he does give a lot of effort, is a terrible actor. Everybody else did a fine job.

Rating:
Summary: Unattractive characters inspire only rare chuckles
Review: DROWNING MONA begins with the on-screen message that the fictional town in the film, Verplanck, NY, was selected as a test market for the Yugo automobile. That's why everybody seems to drive them - old ones. It says a lot about the film that this is one of its more amusing aspects.

Mona is Mona Dearly, played by Bette Midler, a hateful gorgon of a woman who drowns when her car (a Yugo, naturally) plummets off a cliff into the Hudson River. After it's discovered that the vehicle's brake fluid has been drained and the brake lines cut, Verplanck's Police Chief Rash, portrayed by Danny DeVito, astutely smells murder. Unfortunately, there are too many individuals who might have wished the hellcat dead: her son Jeff, her husband Phil, her son's and husband's lover Rona (played by Jamie Lee Curtis), Rash's daughter Ellen, and her son's business partner Bobby (also Ellen's fiancé). To give you an idea of Mona's temperament, she may have severed her son's hand from his arm with a cleaver as he was reaching for her beer. At least, that's one story circulating about town to explain his lost appendage.

Only the chief's daughter, Ellen, is anywhere near being an attractive persona in this relatively un-comic black comedy. DeVito, who can usually be counted upon to elicit some guffaws, has a remarkably straight and sober role. Curtis is downright unattractive as the promiscuous waitress. Phil, Jeff and Bobby are three of the most forgettable characters ever to adorn the silver screen.

Of course, Rash unties the Gordion Knot at the end, and justice is served. But, by that time, I didn't care in the slightest. To be evenhanded, I do recall chuckling maybe twice during the film. I just wish I could remember about what, so I could tell you, dear reader. It was certainly not when Jeff and Bobby, co-owners of failing landscaping business, quarrel over losing a customer because Jeff had purposely run over the client's dog with a power lawnmower. Or, when Mona smacks Phil with an iron frying pan. That just about describes the general tenor of DROWNING MONA.

Rating:
Summary: Attention All Battered Husbands: You Snooze You Lose
Review: What a bunch of freaks! This is a great quirky funny film with wonderfully developed oddball characters. Everyone involved gives a great performance, great chemistry between actors. There are some lines, esp the dumb son's & the "battered" husband's that left me crying. The DVD commentary lets you in on some secrets in how they filmed. The deleted scenes are a little freaky, glad they were left out. And since the Farrellys are trying too hard in Me Myself & Irene, this film seems almost restrained in its bad taste. Who gives a crap what the critics think? If you laugh, that's all that matters. So Yugo and enjoy this film. Highly Recommend!

Rating:
Summary: Yugos?
Review: This was a really funny black comedy with a stellar cast. Every person in town hates Mona Dearly, played by Bette Midler. One day her brakes fail and she ends up drowning in the river. The only question is, which of the citizens of Verplanck, NY killed her.

Rating:
Summary: interesting mystery and funny movie put together
Review: i really liked this movie i found it to be a good movie making it a mystery and a funny movie. Especialy when seeing that two of the big horror movies actresses in it. Being Jamie Le Curtis from The Halloween series and Neve Campbell from the Scream trilogy. This movie was basiclly a cop putting evidence together to find out who killed Mona. While this was going on the movie was made funny. Im not 12 like it says im 15.

Rating:
Summary: Drowning This Movie
Review: After years of driving the town crazy, Mona Dearly (Bette Midler) drove herself into a river. But when this twist of fate turns out to be an act of murder, Chief of Police Wyatt Rash (Danny DeVito) has his work cut out for him. The obnoxious Mona is survived by a town full of enemies, aka prime suspects, including her cheating husband (William Fichtner), his mistress (Jamie Lee Curtis), a heartless son (Marcus Thomas), the police chief's daughter (Neve Campbell) and her fiancé (Casey Affleck). To know Mona Dearly was to hate her, and the big mystery isn't who would want to see her dead...but who wouldn't. Now, Chief Rash tries to figure out whom to blame - but the town just wants to know who to thank.

Rating:
Summary: This Movie Is Better Than Most
Review: I watched this movie without having any expectations or knowledge as to what it was about. I simply watched it, and I believe it is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Not THE funniest, but its in the top five. Sure, it was fairly easy early on to guess who did it, but this movie is not a Who Done It. It is a comedy, and a very good one at that. What I liked most about this movie was the clever, understated humor which I much prefer over cheap, slapstick, bathroom, Jim Carrey type humor that is loathesome to me. Danny DeVito was fabulous as the straight man in this movie, as was Bette Midler. I don't know much about Neve Campbell, but she was terrific. I don't understand how anyone can walk away from this movie disappointed, unless their view was jaded by unfair, mediocre reviews by supposedly professional critics.

Rating:
Summary: Ops Miss Midler
Review: Ok, I so deprest. This Film bringing me down. Miss Midler whats going on with You???? Ok next in German. Also dieser Film ist leider nicht auf dem Standard den wir von Miss Midler gewöhnt sind. Die wenigen Szenen in denen Sie zu sehen ist sind zwar ganz passabel, aber im Großen und Ganzen ist dieser Film für mich ein Flopp.Die Langeweile plagt einen. Kein Pepp, kein Witz und Mr. DEVITO ist auch nicht mehr das was er mal war.