The Flipcritic

Some movies have raging motivation. Perhaps, they are driven by a subject that is just begging to be told. DEATH TO SMOOCHY is one of these films. Like Hardball, it mishandles a treasure that is just waiting to be discovered. There are moments where it builds its value impressively, then tears it down like a child playing with a city of blocks. There where many times when I laughed out loud, but there were just as many stretches where I was annoyed, and in some cases, disgusted.

The film tells a story of two TV-show mascots, each on the opposite side of the character spectrum. One is Rainbow Randolph (Robin Williams of GOOD WILL HUNTING), who appears as a benevolent tap-dancing member of a barber quartet (singing to kids of course), but is really an repugnant sexually-confused alcoholic. He is so repulsive, he makes Pee Wee Herman look like a UNICEF Ambassador. He falls from grace after being busted by the FBI for taking bribes from parents to put their kids on his show. Stokes (Jon Stewart of BIG DADDY) an executive at KidNet, must find a replacement show to make up for lost ratings and to keep his job.

Stokes sends Nora (Catherine Keener of BEING JOHN MALKOVICH), the show's producer, to get Sheldon Mopes (Edward Norton of AMERICAN HISTORY X). He is a compassionate, naive, and somewhat gullible performer who's trademark character is Smoochy, a mascot so unbearably sweet and kind that Big Bird would probably want to slap him. He sings on how to get off smack (drugs), how stepfathers aren't bad (just adjusting), and in a scene that tows the line between being hilarious and repellant, is able to make a phallic-looking cookie look like a rocket ship.

As Smoochy becomes a hit, Nora begins to fall in love with Sheldon, while Randolph plots his revenge. The movie also manages to squeeze in a lot of subplots leading to a climax involving an Irish mob, a charity that's on the take, and a sleazy agent named Burke (Danny Devito - Heist) who looks out for Smoochy's interests at first (to get what he wants), but then starts to change his mind after things don't go as planned.

The film centers around how the entertainment industry take advantage of kids, and it capitalizes on the disdain that many people feel against kids shows (read: BARNEY). Creatively, this film has enough witty ideas to make two or three other movies. Poking fun at these clowns is easy, but I chuckled at the inspiration of icescapade-shows serving as money-makers for charity organizations which are really criminal in nature. The movie is full of quotable dialogue. I burst out in laughter while Sheldon was describing how he was framed at a Nazi rally ("Smoochy Hail! Smoochy Hail!"). Practically every comical situation is vicious. Monty Python members would probably be proud.

Though the film's strength is the wrath of its humor, it is also its weakness. For all the film's inventiveness and passion, it lacks restraint. It's as if Danny Devito just decided to make a two-hour ranting session. It goes over the top much more than it has to. There are periods where it puts together coherent and funny sequences, then spoils them with rotten images and words. You'd probably think that the film's script was written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone of SOUTH PARK.

For instance, just as we start laughing at how Smoochy has been duped by Randolph into performing for a bogus charity, we are shown that the gathering is a Nazi rally, complete with huge colorful swastikas. Yes, I can see how the director wants to show how Randolph wants to completely destroy Smoochy's reputation to get his glory back, but is this necessary? It was one of the most tactless, insensitive things I have ever seen in film. How can I laugh when I'm reminded of the Holocaust?

It's hard to believe how the bad the film is despite its first-rate cast. Catherine Keener plays a bitch as good as anyone, and her character is as funny as she is nasty ("I used to be a TV-mascot junkie."). I wish the movie had more of Jon Stewart who is one of the funniest comedians in Hollywood today. And Harvey Fierstein is a hoot as the menacing Merv Green ("Smoochy is fuchsia! Moochy is burgundy!").

I never thought I'd see Edward Norton perform badly. Well... let me rephrase that. Maybe bad is a wrong word. He shows his amazing skill by being able to spew out so many lines in so little time without even blinking. But his performance is too obvious as an exercise. He does a good job, but he is capable of so much more, and the role of Smoochy is beneath him. He emanates a slight charm and exuberance, but at times when he flails out his arms as a mascot, he looks like he's overacting.

It's nice to see Robin Williams as a baddie. This year he'll be starring in two other films (ONE HOUR PHOTO and INSOMNIA) as the villain, which may an attempt to distance himself from his reputation as manic attention-starved comedian. Though we may know him for his high-powered comedy, he has always been one of Hollywood's best actors (twice nominated for Best Actor and winner of Best Supporting Actor for GOOD WILL HUNTING). He is at his best when he isn't acting up a storm or making a scene. He is capable of so much subtlety, but don't look for that here. Despite his hamming it up in this picture, it fits his character. He has the most brutal lines in the movie.

Danny Devito is a very capable director. To give him some credit, the mood of his work here is uncompromising. The story is creative, funny, and orderly. All the numerous subplots make sense and miraculously fits under two hours. He has conviction, but it's just too much to handle. DEATH TO SMOOCHY has the same feel as some his great work in THE WAR OF THE ROSES, HOFFA, and MATILDA. But all of those movies had time for us to rest, and appreciate the style and message he was trying to impart. DEATH TO SMOOCHY never lets up. If its any consolation, he's very funny as Burke.

A while ago, I mentioned that movie's script resembles wordplay from SOUTH PARK. SOUTH PARK: LONGER, BIGGER, AND UNCUT was impressive due to its ferocity as well, but it benefited from its cartoonish appearance, as well as the kids who didn't know what they were talking about with all the filth spewing from their mouths. SOUTH PARK works because of the disbelief we acquire from seeing child-drawings swear with wit, but they do so in the spirit of mischief. When we see real-life adults do it in DEATH TO SMOOCHY with the intent to hurt other characters, it turns you away. Its humor is funny after a while, then it starts to bear down on you. It has ambition, but doesn't know how to hold back. At its center is a worthwhile message. Too bad its buried under compost. It is... unpleasant.

Posted by FLIPCRITIC at May 24, 2002 12:00 AM