Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Death To Smoochy was basically a box-office flop. It's not bad, though, people just didn't get it. It's up to you to get it! Jump on in if you think you can do it, if you're "ready to pursue a show of Smoochy caliber," to quote the Rhino.
One of my life goals was to see Edward Norton dressed up as a children's show host purple Rhinoceros that sings songs. Thanks to Death To Smoochy, I can happily enter the afterlife with that checked off my list. This movie opened largely under the radar when it came out in 2002, and that was probably because critics pretty much hated it. But hey, there are people out there that'll hate anything. There are those that even hate white people! Can you believe that???
Anyway, my first point as to why this movie is amazing is that Danny DeVito directed it. My second point points out in a pretty pointy kinda way that Robin Williams, Edward Norton, DeVito himself, Catherine Keener, and Jon Stewart are the starring characters in the film. If you're not convinced by now, let me say one more thing: it's about children's TV shows.
Now that you're all gone, let me tell you why that's awesome. First of all, it looks at kid's shows from an angle you've never seen pursued before, I guarantee it. And, judging by the reaction it got when it was released in theaters, you'll probably never see it again.
Robin Williams is a corrupt, reprehensible children's show host named Rainbow Randolph, who is living the good life until he gets caught by the FBI, taking a bribe from some parents so their child can be in front on his show. So, the network he had worked for went scouting for a new, "squeaky clean" host. Enter Smoochy the Rhino (Edward Norton). He's vegan, he's nice, and he sings songs about keeping crackheads off crack. Except in a kid's show kinda way. Everything's great at first, until Smoochy starts to realize how messed up the world of kid's shows is. He meets the Irish mob, and enters a relationship with Catherine Keener, a producer for his show. On top of that, Rainbow Randolph repeatedly tries to sabotage Smoochy's show in some pretty nasty, hilarious ways, including baking cookies that look like penises for the children to eat on Smoochy's Magic Jungle. Everything spins out of control, bringing Smoochy the Rhino to the brink of despair, before he remembers who he is and gains control of himself.
Death To Smoochy is a comedy. It's also very dark, especially when you consider that the subject material is children's television. It's quite vulgar, as well, full of washed up kid's show hosts who have fallen into the depths of desperation, looking to drugs and alcohol to wash away the pain. It's interesting to see the almost childishly-good Smoochy interact with a series of corrupt people who care nothing about him, and they do a good job of portraying how far he falls in a short time. in fact, through the course of the movie, almost every character goes through a radical change. Robin Williams does a perfect job acting out Randolph's psychoticness, and he's one of the main sources of humor in the film, but that can almost always be said about Robin Williams. There is also a lot of midgets in this movie, it's great. You should check this movie out because it's a cult classic, and anything Danny DeVito directs is going to be quality in some way.
Death To Smoochy
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2 comments:
October 30, 2008 4:03 AM
god damned amazing movie.
October 30, 2008 8:16 PM
I always wondered why people thought this movie was so bad.