Death to Smoochy (Widescreen Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Perfect black comedy
Review: This film was robbed by most of the national critics which once again tells us; don't skip an interesting movie based on a bad review in your local paper. The critics missed the point on this one which is a real shame. It was a flop at the box office and even director Devito on the DVD commentary refers to the aftermath of the film's release as "the mourning period".

What the critics failed to see is that this is one of the finest "black" comedies to come along in years. It is dark, snide, satirical, unrelenting, and hysterically funny. Devito's brand of physical direction is absolutely dead on. The film is filled with unbelievable energy and panache and he gets superb performances from a very talented cast. Williams in particular delivers a scathing, in your face performance. And Harvey Fierstein as a charity fraud crook is a stitch!

The kiddie songs are hilarious; the list characters from dancing midgets to the Irish mafia are straight out of a Tim Burton nightmare; the ice skating sequence accompanied by opera arias is inspired, knee slapping lunacy! The screenplay is deliciously twisted and crude. Yes, the movie assaults you with lots of foul language, but the nastiness is part of the dark hilarity of the proceedings.

What's even more impressive is that director Devito never wavers. This movie has an utterly consistent tone. It is devasting in its relentless, unflinching satire of sweet kiddie shows. I'll say it again. This movie was robbed by the local and national know nothing critics.

If you love comedy especially a satire with no mercy; don't miss this one!

Rating:
Summary: "My step-dad's not mean, he's just adjusting."
Review: I've heard a lot of negative commentary on this film, and I can understand why. The sort of rampant dark humor that makes Death to Smoochy so fantastic isn't to everyone's taste. The film is vulgar, violent, sarcastic, peculiar, and ridiculous. In short, it's brilliant. I believe that the only two reasons that it works so entirely well are: a)the perfect direction of Danny DeVito and b)the performances of a very talented cast. Robin Williams is just plain hilarious, as per usual. I think that much of his dialogue in the movie was improvised, which works so well for him. Edward Norton is just naturally silly enough to make us believe Smoochy- not many actors could have pulled off such a character with as much charm and believeablity as he. Catherine Keener, as always, does a wonderful job, and all the rest of the cast deserve commendation as well. Hats off to this delightfully (and naughtily) funny movie, it will always be a favorite of the few.