Death To Smoochy Reviews

A terrible waste of everybody's time

If ever a great movie idea seemed gift-wrapped from the gods then it's 'Death to Smoochy'. The story of a corrupt kid's TV entertainer(Robin Williams) who swears revenges on the pink rhino who has taken his spot(Edward Norton). It seemed a perfect chance to make a biting satire about corporate manipulation of children's entertainment with an amazing cast and a director who has a track record in black comedies.

What the hell happened?! The film is a disastrous mess. Williams resorts to pulling faces, Norton looks bemused(as well he might), Catherine Keener is wasted in a wafer thin role, and the film fails to raise more than a few chuckles in it's entire running time.

The promising ideas at the start of the film( Norton singing kiddie's songs to heroin addicts, the merchandise meetings.) soon go by the wayside to be replaced by a subplot involving Irish gangsters and a pathetic race-against-time finale.

It seems the filmakers had second thoughts about the tone during the script. What starts as a resolutely adult black comedy winds up with a sentimental climax that's so bad it has to be seen to be believed.

It's a massive disappointment and also proved the final nail in FilmFour's coffin. There aren't many other reasons to remember this awful film.

Uneven, but enjoyable satire.

Randolph, a children's entertainer (Williams), is caught taking bribes and is replaced on national television by Norton's Smoochy the Rhino.Smoochy is an instant hit, so Williams goes out to get revenge in this highly enjoyable, biting satire on children's entertainment. The cast list is grade A, all are in superb form, especially Williams who seems to be reveling in his new villainous roles.But the film is very uneven, brilliantly funny one moment, very cluttered and struggling for laughs the next. But, overall, a very enjoyable, biting satire.

Smile kids, it's Smoochy time

Although this film failed to ignite the box office, upon its release in 2002, it is well worth rediscovering this dark, comedic satire on children’s television. It marked the start of Robin Williams’s recent renaissance which continued with ‘Insomnia’ and ‘One Hour Photo’.

Williams plays a kids TV presenter, Rainbow Randolph, who loses his slot after he is arrested for fraud by the FBI; his position is then filled by Edward Norton’s rhino, Smoochy. Throughout the rest of the movie an embittered Robin Williams is attempting to find ways to catch out Edward Norton’s sanctimonious character and regain his slot.

Norton’s character Sheldon hopes to use his new found fame to teach the kids life lessons, beyond what merchandising he is able to sell. His reluctance to play the corporate game gets him in trouble with the network bosses and the criminal element they are connected to who want to kill him. The film is shot in bright day glo colours to mimic children’s TV and much of the action comes across like a live action version of Scooby Doo if the creators were adults who had greater interest in swearing and guns.

The film although, often deliberately, shot like a kids movie, is an amusing look at the way those pulling the strings behind the scenes really view their target audience.

Silly but great fun!

Taking it's queue from the growingly publicised private lives of television presenters, Top Kids Show presenter Rainbow Randolph (Robin Williams) is publicly pulled from air after being caught embezzling the shows profits. It is then up to the television company to find a squeaky clean replacement for the prime time slot which proves to be a lot harder than it would seem. As a last resort they turn to Sheldon Modde (Edward Norton) otherwise known as Smoochy the Rhino. Sheldon sees this as his big break and his chance to teach the viewing kids about good values, morals and eating healthily. Unfortunately the Company Bosses have other ideas, they just want a corporate moneymaking merchandise machine churning out toys, sweets and fizzy drinks; everything that Sheldon is trying to avoid. In the meantime, a bitter Randolph plots to get revenge on Smoochy and those who have taken the spotlight away from him.

Edward Norton again proves he can pull off any character, however ridiculous and Robin Williams takes a break from his normal sugar coated nice guys with hilarious consequences. The end result is a successfully comic tale shown in Danny DeVito’s own unique style. Worth a watch if you are a fan.

Not a bad film. Unusual story, acting is ok, a few funny lines but not as good as I had thought it would be. Robin Williams is disappointing in this film and although I watched it through to the end it was pretty bland and I would not bother to watch it again.

Better than I expected but not great

If you like black comedy they don't come much blacker than this. Death To Smoochy has some genuinely funny moments and Edward Norton is good in the lead.

The plot is unfortunately very disjointed. Character arches take huge leaps that are left unexplained and look like the result of trying to keep the (already quite long for a comedy) running time down.

Williams is annoying and creepy but it works for the part. However the great Catherine Keener is wasted.

The biggest shame, however, is the disk. As a rental only copy this does not have the bloopers, deleted scenes (which might have explained some of the plot gaps), making of nor commentary that are available on the retail disk. Sadly the film is not good enough to warrant buying to see these.

Overall not as bad as it's mad out to be or its sraight-to-video status might suggest, but if you want a cracking black comedy check out DeVito's Throw Momma From The Train or the upcoming Bad Santa - which is fantastic.

Entertaining and funny...to a point

Rainbow Randolph is a childrens entertainer with a distinct lack of morals. Accepting bribes for children to appear on his show lands him in hot water, and soon enough, everything he loves (money, fame, power) is stripped away from him. His show is replaced by The Smoochy Show, a great side swipe at Barney The Dinosaur, who is played by the ever placid and centered Sheldon Mopes (Edward Norton in another superb performance). Randolph decides that the only way for him to have a another grasp at the brass ring is to discredit Sheldon and Smoochy...then if all else fails...kill him.

A dark satire on the money orientated world of childrens entertainment, the film tries really hard to impress, and does so in its wonderfully acidic script and the chance to see Williams go so mad you begin to worry for his safety at times. However, the film does tend to become a little too moral towards the end, but the sight of Williams casting aside his mushy roots (Patch Adams, Bicentennial Man) and getting back to a slice of adult humour is always worth the price of a rental.

Bad Hybrid of Comedy and Drama

Bypassing the UK cinemas seemed a bit harsh, until I saw this mess of a film. Danny DeVito, not only directs but gives himself a part as well. Maybe he should have left the directing to someone else. The story was too black to be dramatic and too childish to be funny.

Edward Norton, normally chooses his parts with more care, but this was a disaster and I hate to say it one of the worst performances I have seen him give.

Robin Williams was his usual manic self, although he did try, but given the script couldn't really do anything good with it.

Dark and humerous

Funny, bleak and very very dark. Don't judge a book (or movie in this case) by its cover. This is as far removed from Barney the Purple Dinosaur, or anything like it, as you can imagine. Consider it your usual black tale of envy, rage, disappointment and murder, just with kids' TV as a backdrop.

It bombed in the US so it never made the cinema screens over here, but it is better than a lot of crap that we get forced to choose between.

Worth finding

Had read about this in Empire and never got round to renting it as not getting a UK cinema release put me off.Was very surprised,great dark comedy with lots of black humour and movie in-jokes,a def 5 Stars