Spanking The Monkey Reviews

Coolest Hurt

This is certainly not a straight-ahead comedy by any means. It's a comedy in the way that, say, Happiness is a comedy. It's a great film, dark and twisted, hilarious and frightening in equal measures.

But the best thing about this film is easily the soundtrack by the band Morphine.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Spanking the audience...

How the hell did Russell get this film under the radar?!

I think it's fantastic. Daring, totally original, absolutely responsible and truthful in the way it handles the lava-hot subject matter...and funny and moving at the same time, AND without becoming too heavy...

...but of course a lot of people are going to find it unbearable because it cuts really deep into some seriously dark places, and dares to suggest that using humour can be an appropritate means for exploring some of these places. This is definitely not a Farrelly brothers movie, not to knock their films, but they make pretty reassuring, mildly gross-out, essentially pretty cute movies, that aren't really about anything much...good escapism. IF YOU WANT A FARRELLY BROTHERS FILM, RENT 'SOMETHING ABOUT MARY...'

Goddammit, Russel's made a modern version of a Greek tragedy that is totally accessible and entertaining, as long as you can handle a bit of serious existential meat on your comedy bone! This is a vision of how incestuous and screwed up family can get, and one son's serious crisis in relationship to just about everything in his life...it's a very black comedy indeed; in fact there's probably not many mainstream American comedies blacker really.

And yet, there's real intelligence and heart here - Russell isn't just trying to shock. The ending is a proper attempt to come through the darkness the central characters are lost in...and manages to be genuinely satisfying, with none of the cop-outs or get-out-clauses you expect are on the way...

Yes I guess 'Happiness' is a pretty good comparison, but that was essentially a freakshow for me, allowing me to distance myself from the central characters and basically laugh at how messed-up they are, where this is more challenging - it forces you to really look at yourself in a way a lot of people don't want to...

Sick? I mean, so we are happy to watch how many people dying per day in how many violent films and tv shows, but we get incensed when someone tries to grub around a bit in some uncomfortable truths about human relationships??? That's what I call sick. Incest has been the regular subject matter of a large proportion of the great works of art down through time (um, Hamlet, anyone?) - this film isn't sniggering and prurient, it's about a young person in a deep crisis about his family, his sexuality, his identity, as a lot of young people are at the moment.

AND IT'S FUNNY, did I forget to say???

Okay I'll finish this impassioned defence of a personal favourite...

I think you should try it out, and hey, if it makes you feel uncomfortable, it's not so bad for a film to do that to you once in a while is it...?

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trash

this film was utterly boring, the story was sick, the ending was crap in all the whole film was trash,

Rubbish

This was the worse film we've ever

Spanking your stupid brain

That is the moust loudricous movie that I ever sought in my life. How in the world they can spend enormous amount of money doing this stupid movies, better instead give the money to charity.

boring

do not hire this film boring!!!!!!!!!!!!

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[Highly rated reviewer]

zzzzzz

I don't have a problem with the subject matter but how anyone managed to make a film about a dude having sex with his mother THIS BORING is astonishing.

not impresed

the film starts off very slow focusing on a sexually frustrated 20 something year old boy. then he starts touching up his own mother, i am not really in to incest so i turned it off at that point. i had already made my mind up - this is a really wierd, bizzare and boring film

Sick

Unless you are into incest give this a miss. Made me feel sick.

Rubbish!

Don't even think about adding to your list!