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Death to Smoochy (2002)
Black comedy can be a tricky thing. Some people consider it vulgar and the direct opposite of funny. Now someone like me, I adore it. A great deal of wonderful dark comedies have come out recently, like Fight Club and Election. Smoochy joins the ranks, but doesn't surpass them. It's a good movie, decent performances, but flawed at times. Is this due to the darkness? Not at all. Call it mean, but it is hilarious.
Rainbow Randolph (Robin Williams) has just lost his time slot because he's a a corrupt slimeball. He takes payoffs to put kids on his show and he is a chronic drunkard. He loses his time slot to Smoochy (Edward Norton), who has been chosen because of his squeaky clean personality by two network execs (Jon Stewart and Katherine Keener). Rainbow decides to exact revenge and win back his time slot by any means, like bringing in Nazis, the Irish Mafia, an evil kids charity, a crooked agent (Danny DeVito), and an assassin.
The flick is paced fairly well and the jokes are definitely not for children. The performances are great all around (Norton and Williams are terrific), the script is air tight with some hilarious songs, and DeVito's direction is right on. The only thing that bothered me about this flick is that a bunch of outside antagonists joined in. I think it lost a lot when Williams wasn't the only one taking on Smoochy head on. Of course, this was both a blessing and a curse. Williams could have grown thin after a while and it wouldn't have gone anywhere. In any case, I wanted more scenes between Williams and Norton. Kind of disappointing from this angle, but overall, a good movie.
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