Death to Smoochy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Death To Smoochy | |
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| Directed by | Danny DeVito |
| Written by | Adam Resnick |
| Starring | Robin Williams Edward Norton Danny DeVito Catherine Keener Jon Stewart |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | March 29, 2002 |
| Running time | 107 min. |
| Country | USA/UK/Germany |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $50,000,000 |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Death to Smoochy is a 2002 dark comedy film starring Robin Williams, Edward Norton, and Catherine Keener. It also features Jon Stewart and Danny DeVito, who is also the film's director. Death to Smoochy is known for its mostly vulgar humor, particularly Williams' occasional cursing outbursts. This film also shows him playing a role very against type, as a corrupted, nearly psychopathic TV host.
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[edit] Plot summary
Rainbow Randolph (Williams) enjoys his life and career as a happy, although corrupt, children's television show host, but after being caught by a federal sting for accepting bribes from a mother who wants her child to appear on the show, he is fired in disgrace. His timeslot is filled by squeaky clean, but sappy, Sheldon Mopes, also known as Smoochy the Rhino (Norton), Randolph finds himself unemployed and homeless, virtually outcast from television by his two-faced associate Marion Stokes (Stewart), a slimy TV executive. In an effort to return to his life in the spotlight, Randolph develops several insane schemes to sabotage the Smoochy show, turn the Rhino into a dead duck, and regain his time slot, as well as his status as a television icon. One of these schemes involves using several variations of the word penis live on the air, much to the horror of many.
When not fighting for creative control, Sheldon tries to maintain a stable relationship with fellow employee Nora (Keener), who later becomes Sheldon's love interest. Upon hearing about this relationship, Randolph decides to make it known about the wild times that he and Nora once had, going as far as to comment on how "limber" Nora was. Somewhat of a warped love triangle develops, as Nora completely denies having any feelings for Rainbow anymore.
Beneath all of what is happening around him, Mopes engages in unwanted relationships with the Irish mob, as well as a charity run by Merv Green (Harvey Fierstein) that is more imposing than beneficial. The mob, headed by the sympathetic Tommy Cotter (Pam Ferris) confronts Sheldon in his new office, demanding that their close friend and former pro boxer Spinner get a spot on the Smoochy show. Smoochy, fearing for his life, accepts the "offer" and puts Spinner on the show. Spinner, after many years of taking blows to the head, is mentally handicapped and speaks like a very loud five-year-old, which disrupts the show's production continually. Meanwhile, a despondent Randolph is taken in by Angelo (Danny Woodburn), an old co-star during Randolph's reign as host.
The corrupt "Parade of Hope" Foundation comes into play as Burke Bennett (DeVito) purposely bumps into Sheldon- who is drinking orange juice- at a bar. Bennett comes forward with an offer to Sheldon for full executive control of the Smoochy show. Not knowing who Burke is associated with, the naive Mopes accepts. Burke does indeed get Sheldon full creative control, but later that week signs Smoochy up for a touring ice skating show. Sheldon strongly opposes the idea, claiming that it is unnecessary "bells, whistles, and ricket-a-racket-a". Bennett urges Mopes to reconsider, but to no avail. Later on, Sheldon is confronted by charity boss Merv Green (Fierstein), who twists Sheldon's arm into doing the ice show. Although Merv's life is abruptly ended when he orders a hit on Sheldon, that results in Spinner getting killed after his rhino costume is mistaken to be Sheldon. Tommy and her crew behead Merv in a story retold to Sheldon, who is aghast.
The show goes on, but what Smoochy does not know is that Burke, along with Stokes' assistance, has hired drug addict Buggy Ding Dong (Vincent Schiavelli), who is also a former kiddy show host, to take him out during the show with a sniper rifle. The assassin almost carries out his deed, until Rainbow (who has ultimately joined forces with Sheldon after realizing how charitable Sheldon is since he's down on his luck) finds out about the assassination attempt and stops it, killing Buggy in the process. After Sheldon realizes that Burke and Stokes set him up, he chases after Burke into an alleyway. A terrifyingly upset Sheldon threatens to kill Burke after the failed hit, enraged that he was setup up until Tommy and her men intercept, and she prevents Sheldon from shooting Burke. Stokes is also in their captivity and Tommy indicates that they'll eliminate Burke and Stokes, getting Sheldon to leave so he doesn't have to witness it. After a very uncharacteristic violent outburst, Sheldon finally sees eye to eye with Randolph. The two decide to join forces (with Nora as well) and continue the ice tour together as Rainbow Randolph and Smoochy the Rhino.
[edit] Production
The movie was filmed in Toronto and New York City. Including Union Station, and all of the TV studio scenes were shot at the Toronto Film Studios. The scenes involving ice-skating were filmed at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
[edit] Critical Reception and Box Office Results
The film was poorly received by most film critics. Though it received a wide release, playing in some 2,164 theaters its opening weekend in the United States, the film was a box office disaster, grossing $4,266,463 its opening weekend, and a mere $8,382,691 overall, with negligible foreign box office receipts.[1] Considering it had a production budget of some $50 million, Death to Smoochy was a financial failure. Danny DeVito begins the DVD audio commentary with the lines "Hello. It's Danny. It's been, um... I guess now a few months since the release of Death to Smoochy, so the mourning period is over."
[edit] Errors
- Mopes (Norton) in the beginning of the film claims he was born on November 11, 1970, the first broadcast of Sesame Street. This is incorrect, due to the fact that Sesame Street premiered on November 10, 1969 on the National Educational Television network.
[edit] Notes
- In the final scene when Smoochy and Randolph are flying in the show, Randolph does a move in the air that Robin Williams did in the movie Hook in which he portrayed the adult version of Peter Pan.
[edit] Trivia
- Jon Stewart often mentions the fact that he was the "fourth male lead" in the movie as an example of his acting ability or lack thereof as he suggests. The film is a frequent in-joke on The Daily Show.
[edit] Taglines
- He's Big, He's Blue, He's Smoochy... and He's got to DIE!
- Get ready for an unexpected hit.
- It's the rhino vs. the wino... with a little help from the mob.
