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HugeReviews.com Reviews:
And now
for something a tad bit original: Death to Smoochy
by Christian
De Matteo
Solid
In this horrible age of Scoopy
Doo: Redux and live action Flintstones
and remake after remake after bloody frickin remake, Death
to Smoochy comes as a wonderfully comforting message that yes, a
handful of people in Hollywood still
have a bit of imagination and originality left.
Even if the movie doesn’t capture your interest at all, please
go see it just to let filmmakers know that WE WANT SOMETHING NEW!
And Smoochy does the
trick. A fun, quirky,
outright bizarre at points, and dark film, Smoochy
provides fun laughs and uncomfortable laughs with such ease that it’s
a wonder more people aren’t doing it.
Think about it, cast Danny De Vito (also the director in this
case), Robin Williams, Ed Norton and Harvey Fierstien and let them do
their wildest in an R-rated movie about all things “Barney-esque.”
It almost can’t help but be outrageous and hysterical.
Smoochy isn’t the
greatest movie to ever come out, and runs a little low on laughs at
points, but those points are pretty small and far apart, leaving the
film an overall rewarding experience.
My main problem with the film is that I expected it to be darker,
as though the Coen Brothers had directed it and not MR. De Vito.
I can’t condemn the film though, because I like things very
dark, but frankly, the film is probably just as dark as it needs to be.
One of the greatest pleasures of the film is Robin Williams. Smoochy is
officially and finally redemption for the sickly, sticky sweetness of Patch Adams. Within the
first few moments of the film, Robins is slinging the f-word left and
right and singing a “children’s” show song rife with perverse
sexual reference about them sitting in his lap.
Brilliant. Williams
manages in one film to recover all the manhood he lost in his wussy
movies.
This is not a wussy movie. And
yet the main character is a lovable wuss.
Ed Norton (Fight Club,
Rounders) who is one of my favorite of this generation of actors.
(Side Note: Dream
Project- Ed Norton and
Benicio del Toro in one film, awesome.)
Norton plays Smoochy, apparently the only person with any honor
in the world of children’s entertainment.
And he is completely believable in a role that couldn’t be any
more different than his role in American
History X or even Keeping the
Faith.
Catherine Keener, however, provides some of the disappointment. I loved her in Being
John Malkovich, but in Smoochy
she fits like a bad high school theater kid among great actors, never
knowing what to do when on camera but not speaking.
You can almost feel her reaching for her next line. There’s one scene with Norton talking to Williams, with
Keener sitting on the arm of the couch next to him, and she is literally
looking around like she’s got nothing to do in the scene.
Regardless of this somewhat apparent flaw, the film is very
enjoyable and, again, a wonderful notice that some people in Hollywood
are still trying to come up with something new.
Don’t go in expect laugh out loud hysterics.
Yes, there are some, but the film is deeply satirical and holds a
pretty accurate message about the entertainment world. It’s silly and evil and dark and quirky, but there is a
definite intelligence behind it, as well as a not-so-subtle cry for
honor among entertainers.
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