An annoying, strident misfire.
Comment
03/29/02
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Death to Smoochy (2002)
42
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:119
Fresh:50
Rotten:69
Average Rating:5.3/10
Consensus: The talent involved can't save a script that has nowhere to go with its promising premise.
Theatrical Release:Mar 29, 2002 Wide
Box Office: $8,308,230
Synopsis: Robin Williams goes berserk as Rainbow Randolph, the disgraced host of a children's television show, in director Danny DeVito's fast-paced satire, DEATH TO SMOOCHY. Busted by the Feds for accepting... [More]
Starring: Robin Williams, Edward Norton, Catherine Keener, Danny DeVito
Director: Danny DeVito
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Reviews for Death to Smoochy
Top CriticThe punch lines that miss, unfortunately, outnumber the hits by three-to-one. But Death to Smoochy keeps firing until the bitter end.
03/29/02
There's so much that's just right in Danny DeVito's dark, behind-the-scenes satire of children's television that it's frustrating -- and a bit puzzling -- that the film doesn't quite work overall.
03/29/02
Enough of the bits work and some are so funny that the overall effort comes off as contagiously enjoyable and often hilariously entertaining.
03/29/02
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.
03/29/02
Top CriticThe result is a gaudy bag of stale candy, something from a Halloween that died.
03/29/02
Instead of a witty expose on the banality and hypocrisy of too much kid-vid, we get an ugly, mean-spirited lashing out by an adult who's apparently been forced by his kids to watch too many Barney videos.
03/29/02
After years of assaulting our tear ducts, the old, edgy Williams is back where he should be, tickling our funny bones. That alone is worth $10.
03/29/02
This kind of dark comedy requires a delicate, surgical touch. But director Danny DeVito and screenwriter Adam Resnick (remember Cabin Boy?) just pound away.
03/29/02
Smoochy is often laugh-out-loud funny and some musical moments are inspired, but one wishes the film's satire were sharper and meaner.
03/29/02
The cynicism is colossal, the casting superb: Norton may be the only actor alive who could pull off a character like Sherman, without making him either an idiot or a parody.
03/29/02
Top CriticThe cinematic equivalent of being poked in the ribs with a fork for two hours, this relentlessly irritating comedy redefines the term 'over the top' -- and we don't mean that as a compliment.
03/29/02
Funny in a sick, twisted sort of way.
03/29/02
DeVito obviously set out to make Throw Smoochy from the Train or The War of the Mascots but he quickly derails himself.
03/29/02
With its kinkiness, violence and profane dialogue, with its underbelly of sick, psychotic behaviour, the movie is hilarious only to fans of twisted, extreme humour.
03/29/02
The film does have it's weak spots, but for the most part, it's dead on. See it.
03/29/02
The comedy Death to Smoochy is a rancorous curiosity: a movie without an apparent audience.
03/29/02
Top CriticLoud, obscene, obvious and endlessly, assaultively repetitive, Death to Smoochy stands as a classic case of a bad thing happening to good actors.
03/29/02
Top CriticFor all its calculated cruelties, Death to Smoochy never gets as down and dirty.
03/29/02
Top CriticThis is the kind of stinker that emerges every so often from Hollywood when major 'talent' -- Danny DeVito and Robin Williams, in this case -- get it into their heads that something disastrously unfunny is hilarious.
03/29/02
Top CriticLatest News for Death to Smoochy
January 05, 2006:
Jon Stewart to Host the Oscars!
Every news outlet, movie site, and cine-blog is reporting the news, so I'll just cite good ol' ComingSoon.net as our source, but there's the good news: Everyone's favorite... More...
January 03, 2006:
Vincent Schiavelli Passes at 57
Character actor Vincent Schiavelli, the long-faced veteran of over 150 film and television appearances, died of lung cancer December 26 at home in Sicily. He was 57 years old. More...
February 25, 2002:
It should be noted that when 'black comedies' push the envelope too far, their subsequent box office suffers. Prime recent examples would be: Freddy Got Fingered, Very Bad Things, Whipped, and Jawbreaker. 
More...
February 06, 2002:
The working environment of the shoot may have been buoyant, but as DeVito points out, the film at times is anything but.
More...
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