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Death
To Smoochy
Starring:
Edward Norton, Robin Williams, Catherine Keener, Jon Stewert,
Danny DeVito.
Directed by: Danny DeVito
Produced by: Andrew Lazar and Peter MacGregor-Scott
Written by: Adam Resnick
Distributor: Warner Brothers
The world of childrens television shows is often filled
with magic, glitter, and fairydust as reality is given way to
fantasy to the delight of children everywhere. While the antics
of some of the characters and the music and merchandising give
parents headaches and the occasional homicidal fantasy,
most parents let the fantasy play its course until their children
grow to other interests.
When the lights and music fade however, the reality behind the
magic is not always as happy as it is portrayed, such is the
life of Rainbow Randolph, (Robin Williams), a top rated childrens
show host who is knocked from his lofty perch when he accepts
a bribe from undercover fed posing to get a child on his show.
Reeling from the scandal, the network places the task of finding
a replacement that is squeaky clean in the hands of M Frank
Stokes (Jon Stewart), and Nora Wells (Catherine Keener). This
is no easy task as most of the available candidates have issues
ranging from drugs, assault charges and drinking to name a few.
Desperate to save their jobs, Stokes and Wells reluctantly settle
on Sheldon Mopes (Edward Norton), a Rhino impersonating, tree
hugging, milquetoast who makes vanilla seem wild and daring.
His character Smoochy becomes a gigantic hit and this drives
the desolate Rainbow Randolph to the brink of madness, as he
sets out to take down his replacement and regain his crown as
the king of kid shows.
While this should have been a recipe for a laugh fest, Death
To Smoochy soon gets lost in crime subplots and much repetition.
Williams is sadly missing from large portions of the film as
his presence elevated each of the scenes he was in though sadly
not nearly enough. Norton is good in his role but his character
is very bland and has few changes throughout and this gets old
very quickly. The supporting work by Keener, Pam Ferris, and
Danny DeVito, (who also directed), are very good but cant make
the film step above its muddled pacing. What could have been
a frantic and inventive comedy loses momentum as large gapes
occur between Williamss antics. For example there is a
sensational moment when Williams frames Smoochy only to have
it followed by several scenes of Norton moping about his bad
fortune. The momentum was gained briefly when Williams is shown
celebrating his success and is lost when the story moves back
to the show.
Dark comedies can be very difficult to do and even harder to
sell to the public. Just look at Jim Carreys brilliant
turn in the little watched The Cable Guy, however
Death To Smoochy suffers from a lack of Williams,
repetition, and many of the characters are never fleshed out.
We have no idea why Mopes has his views and we have no inkling
as to why Randolph would seek to take bribes and not having
any money despite being the top rated show. This could have
been a comedy classic, and the talent and ideas are there for
all to see and that is what makes the final product so frustrating
as opportunities for character growth and humor were left out
in favor of several scenes of the characters in bars, restaurants,
meeting, and wandering New York that did little to enhance the
plot but a lot to kill the potential of this great film idea.