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"Death To Comedy" |
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Directed by Danny DeVito
- Written by Adam
Resnick
Starring Robin Williams,
Edward Norton, Jr.,
Danny DeVito, Catherine
Keener
Distributed by Warner
Brothers - 2002 -
109mins - Rated R |
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Jacob Hall's
Review
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D+ |
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Get ready for an unexpected hit. |
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Everyone was shocked to hear that Robin Williams was going to star in
a (GASP!) R-rated dark comedy! Everyone seemed shocked that his
character ran around the screen, spewing profanity and sexual jargons
like mad. Well, if you've seen Williams' comedy act, this will be
nothing new to you. In fact, it will be boring.
Director Danny DeVito continues his string of duds with this story of
the cutthroat world of children's television. It seems that teaching
children plays second place to marketing and ratings and everyone has
Mafia connections. Williams is "Rainbow" Randolph Smiley, the star of
a hit children's program. When he is caught taking bribes from parents
who want their kids to appear on the show, he is fired. He is replaced
a Smoochy (Edward Norton), a "lovable" purple rhino who dances and
sings about doing the right things and eating healthy. Randolph is
infuriated and creates a plan to ruin, and then kill, his replacement.
I have expressed my love for dark comedy many times on this site, but
I only like funny dark comedy. This premise, while a perfect premise
for a dark comedy, is handled terribly. It could have been hilarious,
because, after all, everyone wants to kill that other singing, purple
monstrosity that is the obvious inspiration for Smoochy. But the movie
consists of Robin Williams speaking improvised, almost X-rated
dialogue while the poorly portrayed Irish mafia mucks everything up.
This is actually a D- film, but there is one thing I really enjoyed.
Norton, a very good dramatic actor, shows great potential as a comic
actor. He sings and dances all on his own and we feel very sorry for
his character when the studio heads try to take advantage of him.
Norton works wonders with the bad script and gives us some precious
laughs.
If only the rest of the film was as good as him.
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© Written by Jacob Hall -
Email
Me! |
TC Candler's Comment
n/a
Richard Propes' Comment
I recently viewed
this film for the second time, and I found
myself even less impressed. With the exception
of yet another wonderful performance by Edward
Norton, this film strives to be a pitch black
comedy...yet, somehow, forgot to throw in the
laughs. The film features a stunningly off
performance by Robin Williams...who is never
believable as a performer for children and never
believable as a dark, vengeful character either.
Basically, he's simply unbelievable in this
role. The direction by Danny DeVito is chaotic
and poorly paced much of the time, and the
script unfocused. I rate this film in the C
range thanks to a focused, energetic and fun
performance by Norton...it's simply too bad he
didn't have better performers alongside him in
this film. It's an amazing premise, a great idea
but it simply never materializes into a
watchable film.
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