Death to Smoochy (2002)
Dir Danny DeVito
Written by Adam Resnick
Robin Williams, Edward Norton, Catherine Keener, Danny DeVito, Jon Stewart, Harvey Fierstein, Pam Ferris, Michael Rispoli, Danny Woodburn, Vincent Schiavelli.
Rainbow Randolph Smiley (Williams) is the host of the popular kids program of the same name, who despite his loving on screen persona, is not so in real life. When he is caught in a bribe, he is fired, and network execs Keener and Stewart have to find a replacement. They find the by the book and squeaky clean Sheldon Mopes, who has the character of Smoochy the Rhino. However Randolph wants revenge – and goes after Smoochy.
The story is dreadful, it tries to be a ‘dark comedy’ but the laughs are few. There seemed to be too many extra plot points including the mob boss Fierstein who has people who are close to Mopes in his pocket. His entire character felt out of place, and even miscast.
The other performers, who have all done so much better, really do have their worst performances here. The overacting is evident, and Williams who is the primary antagonist, is too bizarre in his role – and is almost just himself in an exaggerated bad mood. He did such better work as the villain in other roles like One Hour Photo and Insomnia. This almost puts a sour note on his legacy.
There is also the poorly aged character of Spinner, the brain damaged former boxer, who if was only in a scene or two might have worked, but he is a secondary character and has ample screen time – it felt way too done. As the great Kirk Lazarus once said, ‘never go full…’
The directing is almost headache inducing, with so many strange camera angles, and close up shots – to extreme close ups. It tries to pair the ‘noir’ like setting, but it doesn’t work. The attempt at ‘noir’ is also poorly done, as it is contrasted by the overly colourful sets elsewhere.
The screenplay also has a weird mixture of noir dialogue mixed with modern language – and constant use of the ‘f’ word, just to include it out of the mouth of Williams.
Poorly conceived and executed even worse, this is such a convoluted mess it was painful to sit through, and even at 109 minutes feels way too long. There was nothing I liked about this. Sit this one out.