Death to Smoochy Movie Review 2002

DeVito-directed dark comedy follows a clash of the clowns: one good and one evil. Rainbow Randolph (Williams), is the corrupt, alcoholic star of a kiddie show fired over a bribery scandal and replaced by his polar opposite: Barney-esque purple rhino good-guy, Smoochy (Norton). Keener is the ruthless Kidsnet exec who takes orders from her fetid network boss (Stewart). Director DeVito doubles as a loathsome agent. Although Norton is proficient as the cloying, wide-eyed kiddie magnet and Williams clearly revels in ranting, this over-the-top to the point of ugliness revenge comedy's one note joke wears thin and behind the scenes kiddie show satire is way less subtle than it needs to be.

Distribution

Warner Home Video, Inc., 5775 Linder Canyon Rd., Westlake Village, CA 91362, URL: http://whv.warnerbros.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 109 minutes.
Originally from United States.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Look Ma! I'm on TV!, Black Comedy, Sanity Check, Organized Crime, Assassination, Revenge, New York, New York, Skating

Screenplay

Adam Resnick

Cast

Robin Williams, Edward Norton, Catherine Keener, Danny DeVito, Jon Stewart, Harvey Fierstein, Michael Rispoli, Pam Ferris, Danny Woodburn, Vincent Schiavelli

Cinematography

Anastas Michos

Director

Danny DeVito

Music

David Newman

Other

David M. Kelson, Jon Poll, Tamara Deverell, Jane Ruhm, Howard Cummings

Producer

Andrew Lazar, Peter MacGregor-Scott, Mad Chance, FilmFour, Senator Film Entertainment, Warner Bros.