*** Official "DEATH TO SMOOCHY" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Scott Weinberg]

And it looks great!
http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/featu...tosmoochy.html

 

[Guy_K]

This looks funny! Didn't expect it to be that good but I changed my mind. Didn't Williams play a crazy guy in Fisher King as well?

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Saw it before Hart's War...I can't wait. March looks to be a fun month at the theater
Take care,
Chuck

 

[Scott Weinberg]

This one really looks like it could be a winner! Given DeVito's delightfully dark tone that he employed so brilliantly in War of the Roses, I have extremely high hopes for this one! Tough not to get excited about a movie that skewers "Barney"! Plus what a cast!
Robin Williams
Ed Norton
Jon Stewart
Catherine Keener
Danny DeVito
PLUS... it's rated R. I'm not saying there aren't thousands of wonderful PG movies, but it's somewhat reassuring to know that the potentially adult humor of this movie won't be muted by the desire for a PG-13 rating.

 

[Rob_C]

Sweet! I've been wanting to see this but was afraid that it would be PG or PG-13. I agree Scott with this kind of movie and an R rating it has a good chance of being a classic.

It's on my must see list this year.

 

[Kevin Porter]

This movie looks great. Hopefully I can convince my parents to let me see this. It being rated R and all. Hopefully it'll be a Royal Tenenbaums R and not a Fight Club R.

~Kevin

 

[Scott Weinberg]

The official site is now up as well:
http://www.smoochymustdie.com/
The more I read about this movie, the better it looks!

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Back again with more Smoochy news! (And no, I do not work for WB!) It looks like director DeVito had to make some last-second snips on this flick, but there is a silver lining:
From Zap2it.com - By Mike Szymanski
In a private screening at the Warner Bros. backlot Friday night, director and star Danny DeVito tested out his new dark comedy "Death to Smoochy" to an enthusiastic crowd of college kids. Then, in a question-and-answer period, he talked about parts of the film that the studio execs encouraged him to cut.
"There was some pressure to tone it down a little, but I thought the studio was very brave to make it in the first place, I take my hat off to them," smiled DeVito, wearing a black cap that named his own production company, Jersey Films.
Starring Robin Williams, Edward Norton, Jon Stewart and Catherine Keener, "Death to Smoochy" is a wild unpredictable dark comedy about infighting in the world of children's TV programming. Williams plays a defiled children's show host Rainbow Randolph, who gets replaced by a purple rhino, played by Norton. When the Mafia, Irish gangs, punch-drunk boxers, dwarves and children get involved, the results can get a bit insane, if not bloody.
"It was too much blood in the scene with Harvey (Fierstein, who plays a murderous gangster who gets beheaded)," says DeVito. "We showed the axe in one version, and then we did things with the head, well, it was cut."
It's a scene, however, he says to expect on DVD.
He admits he went a bit overboard, squirting the blood from a bottle off camera himself. It was high-speed gory stuff, he said, and he had to "rein it in a little" but he had fun doing it.
He even had to tone down his own scene where he and one of the other characters-who-turn-evil, get shot at the end.
Although DeVito says he has final cut with the film, and has had that deal since he directed "The War of the Roses" in 1989, he's willing to yield to reasonable suggestions by studio chiefs, and did so this time with the $50 million film which is coming out in three weeks.
DeVito and Williams were at the Aspen Comedy Festival this weekend also touting the film, and Williams was delayed overnight when he got snowed in. DeVito left earlier to make the special college-aged screening, which a few Internet journalists including Zap2it were also invited to Friday evening.
"My wife and I always look for movies we can bring the kids to," says DeVito about his wife, Rhea Perlman and his kids, 18, 16 and 14. "This is definitely NOT a movie you want to bring your kids to."
I. Can't. Wait. To see this movie!

 

[Bill J]

How could you guys actually think that this movie looks good? I am definitely going to skip this one and I am losing respect for Edward Norton because of it.

 

[Dan Brecher]

I'll be seeing for the people involved alone, but that said the story has potential for greatness. I'm certainly looking forward to this.

Dan

 

[Greg_Y]

I am definitely going to skip this one and I am losing respect for Edward Norton because of it.

I can certainly understand that you have been turned off by the trailer / ads but how can you lose respect for an actor without seeing the film? Seems silly to me.
The one review I've read so far seems to think that the film is a case of wasted talent.
RottenTomatoes Review

 

[Rob Lutter]

I am definately going to see this movie... Ed Norton and Robin Williams (look away from Patch Adams ) are two of my favorite actors
oh... and the Death to Smoochy website is a real hoot... I especially like Rainbow Rudolph's page on difference ways to kill 'that damn rhino'

 

[Joe_C]

When I first saw the ads popping up all over my campus me and my roommate (and pretty much everyone else around here) was kind of in the "WTF" phase, especially since quality actors like Norton and Williams were involved.

But now that I've seen the trailer, I'm pretty stoked about seeing it. Plus, it doesn't hurt that they sacked up and gave it an R-rating, ensuring at the very least that it won't be toned down for a younger crowd.

 

[MickeS]

Are they paying royalties to the writers of "The Simpsons"? This looks just like the episodes of "The Simpsons" where Sideshow Bob has tried to kill Krusty the Klown (and Bart).

/Mike

 

[Joe_C]

It doesn't look nearly similar enough to warrant any type of situation involving royalties. Of course, I may be wrong but in my estimation there are just WAY too many distinct differences between the two.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Wow, is Smoochy generating some controversy!
From Dark Horizons :

Saying that to kids, "this movie is Sept. 11," the producer of the Canadian-produced PBS show Ricky's Room has announced that he will join in a planned protest by family groups of the upcoming Warner Bros. movie Death to Smoochy. Jeff Deverett also told today's (Wednesday) Toronto Globe & Mail that he plans to take legal action against the studio because of the similarities between Smoochy and Ricky the Rhino, the leading character on his show. Deverett said that he particularly objects to billboards and other ads showing Smoochy, a purple rhinoceros, lying dead on a slab. "I guarantee you that if you take any three-year-old who knows Ricky and show them the Smoochy poster, they'll say, 'That's Ricky.' And that's grounds for a lawsuit," Deverett told the newspaper. Warner Bros. has not responded.

--
I'm not at all familiar with who "Ricky" is, but it seems he's not above trying to make a fast buck off of WB. :rolleyes

 

[Mark Pfeiffer]

Does Ricky smell a winner? I'm not all that certain that this film is going to do that well, especially going head to head with Panic Room.
It's funny I read this after the other thread Scott. You thought the trailer looked funny. I didn't.
(The film is okay. I thought Norton was pretty good FWIW.)

 

[Scott Weinberg]

I'm not all that certain that this film is going to do that well, especially going head to head with Panic Room.

I agree with you completely, Mark. I'll be very interested to see how DTS (ha!) does at the box-office. We all know how well the dark comedies generally do at the B.O.
Several of my OFCS colleagues are bashing it up and down. Ah well, more for me.

 

[Tom Ryan]

I saw Death To Smoochy tonight at a free screening at my school......it was hilarious!

Robin Williams plays a VERY convincing crazy insane man, eyes twitching and mouth running, spewing foul language left and right. Speaking of foul language, there was quite a lot of it in this film...I agree with the "don't take your kids to it" sentiment. Norton was excellent as the ethical Sheldon Moepes who has to face off with the darker side of the children's television industry.

There are quite a few roar out loud moments, as well as flurries of medium-size laugh and chuckle moments. The screenwriter used a lot of clever one-liners ("she's gone down on everything but the Titanic!") and they really work for the film. Watch for a few well-placed penis jokes and also a smidgen of gay humor (is he or isn't he?).

I only wish the movie had been as clever as its best moments the whole way through, then it would've been a comedy classic. As it is, Smoochy's a very entertaining dark comedy that I'd recommend to adults that love biting and frequently crude humor (it doesn't hurt if you hate Barney, either).

-Tom

 

[Robert Crawford]

This thread is now designated the Official Discussion Thread for "Death to Smoochy". Please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.
All HTF member film reviews of "Death to Smoochy" should be posted to this thread.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Crawdaddy