Death to Smoochy (2002)

Danny DeVito steps behind the camera for this darkly funny satire that combines elements of Barney and Friends with the real-life Pee-Wee Herman scandal while recalling the director's previously twisted black comedies Throw Momma From the Train (1987) and The War of the Roses (1989). Robin Williams stars as Randolph Smiley, a popular children's show host known professionally as "Rainbow Randolph." Dismissed from his beloved job when he's caught taking payola, Randolph becomes increasingly mentally unhinged and the target of his delusional revenge fantasies is Sheldon Mopes (Edward Norton), otherwise known as Smoochy, the fuchsia rhino character that has replaced him and soared to national popularity. Randolph soon learns that his ex-girlfriend and network executive Nora Wells (Catherine Keener) is sleeping with Sheldon, so he sets out to kill Smoochy, egged on by an unexpected ally: corporate president Marion Frank Stokes (Jon Stewart), who should be profiting from Smoochy's rise to fame, except for the fact that he and his cronies are unable to control the idealistic Sheldon's on-air agenda. Death to Smoochy (2002) co-stars Harvey Fierstein, Vincent Shiavelli, and Michael Rispoli.

Synopsis by Karl Williams, Allmovie.com

"Death to Smoochy" is the Robin Williams movie for people who've always liked Robin Williams but disliked his movies. Here he gets to cut loose and show the wicked, lacerating side of his humor, to be lewd, to be nasty and to be zany in a way that's ultimately not cuddly but unsettling.

In "Death to Smoochy," we don't get Williams' usual tear and a smile, just sneers and bile, and the spectacle is nothing short of refreshing.

Williams' performance alone would put "Death to Smoochy" in the plus column, but the movie also benefits from the amiable silliness of Edward Norton in the title role and from Danny DeVito's high-velocity direction.

This is screwball film noir, if such a genre could be imagined. Williams plays children's TV star Rainbow Randolph, a drunk with weird sexual proclivities who is caught taking bribes and fired. Looking for someone squeaky-clean to replace him, the kids' TV network settles on Sheldon, an impossibly earnest small-timer who works the hospital and rehab circuit as the folk-singing Smoochy the Rhino.

Adam Resnick's screenplay takes the wise strategy of not making Smoochy insufferable or sanctimonious. As played by Norton, Smoochy is instead a sweet,

principled guy who wants to use his position not to sell action figures or sugary cereals but to encourage good nutrition and healthy family relations. This leads to some funny excesses – for example, a children's song whose chorus is "My step-dad's not mean, he's just adjusting." This also puts him at odds with the show's cynical producer, Nora, whom Catherine Keener plays with her usual shrewd wit and sensitivity.

After establishing a comic situation, with Smoochy thriving and Rainbow Randolph sinking into poverty and madness, the movie seems about to go off track about a third of the way in. We're introduced to two sets of underworld characters – the Irish mafia and a corrupt children's organization – and it all starts to feel like too much of everything other than Williams and Norton.

But the picture rescues itself, partly because Resnick's screenplay belabors nothing. In "Smoochy," once it becomes clear that something will happen, it happens, immediately. The result is a story that's always unfolding, generously piling on twists and turns and reversals. One gets the sense that the writer loved the world of the film and enjoyed delving into its intricacies.

Credit must also go to DeVito, who has a smart director's intuition for when his audience is beginning to pull back and lose interest. DeVito (who also plays Smoochy's manager) blasts through the cumbersome expository scenes so he can linger on what the audience really wants to see, which is Williams and Norton.

Williams basks in the freedom not to be innocuous. Randolph hits the skids, walking the New York streets in the middle of the night, talking to himself, indulging in revenge fantasies, a repellent extrovert with an audience of zero.

When he does speak to someone, he flies off the handle, providing Williams with opportunities to be brilliant. Just one little example of many: In the midst of halfheartedly trying to convince someone that Smoochy is gay and a Nazi, he lets his hand fly up, as if involuntarily, in a fey Nazi salute.

Even in scenes where Williams is not being as obviously inventive, his attack on his lines is in itself comical. Randolph's anger and vulgarity know no bounds. In one scene, he has to walk from a courthouse to an automobile, surrounded by reporters, and his ferociousness is side-splitting. The mask is off this kiddie idol. The sense that, in some way, Williams may be poking fun at himself – or his own image as a children's icon – makes the moment all the more rich.

Review by Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Special Features:

Audio commentary by director/co-star Danny DeVito and director of photography Anastas Michos

- Behind-the-Scenes featurette
- 10 Extended & Deleted Scenes
- Bloopers & Outtakes
- Interactive Ice Show (multi angle sequence)
- 3 Theatrical Trailers
- Magic Cookie Bag - Photo Galleries
- Cast & Crew Filmographies