Just finished pic related. It was a pretty fun comedy. It was nice to see Edward Norton take a more comedic lighthearted role and have Robin Williams be in contrast to him, he was also on top of his game with the extra emphasis on his already exaggerated physical comedy. Danny DeVito and Jon Stewart were nice finishing touches to the cast. The cinematographic oddities to highlight the weirdness of the film was a great touch as well. The meeting where Jon Stewart's character is talking to the TV network board executives and is framed extremely smaller in comparison to the others and the fast montages of tearing down and reconstructing the sets as needed which compliments the very fast pacing of the film and and there's an extra bit of commentary to how replaceable you can be in the entertainment industry. I think the chemistry between the Edward Norton's character and Catherine Keener was pretty weak. I also thought that the film slowed down a little too much towards the end. Overall though it was a pretty fun comedy and well it was a bit substantless on the commentary it was definitely a bizarre film that I appreciated watching.
I think Rodger Ebert is a wiener for shitting on the movie as much as he did though
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Best scene in the fricking movie. Timeless really. You'll be able to watch that shit in a hundred years and it'll be just as funny as it was twenty years ago. The punch drunk boxer shellacking the parade of hope goons before finally going down was a great moment too.
It would never be done again today but Robin Williams sabotaging smoochie to perform on stage in front of a bunch of neo-nazis was also amazingly funny. I will never forget when I saw those fricking lights come up and Edward's dumbfounded face as the bright red and black insignia was plastered behind him
Also very amusing, although I thought Rainbow spazzing the frick out with spittle flying out while he was in disguise as the cab driver and trying to get Smoochie to admit he thought Rainbow was a homosexual was even funnier. I have to admit the movie got too grim for its own good sometimes though, like when Rainbow poured gasoline on himself in the middle of Times Square.
Yeah I can understand why critics hated it a little bit at the time. Without silly and stupid things were acrossed over into black comedy very fast and with the pacing it seemed almost instantaneous sometimes. And having the backdrop of the movie the children's entertainment with the kids involved could rustle some jimmies for sure. Robin really carried that fricking film though almost all the funny dialogue comes from him.
It was also an enormous departure for Robin Williams. I mean wasn't the darkest thing he'd done up until that point The Birdcage? (literally the funniest movie ever made btw). I remember being really fricking startled by the character he was playing to the point it was legit distracting the first time I watched the movie. It's a fricking grower though, that's for sure.
I'll check it out anon thank you.
I think she was pretty hot in the film. But I never really did buy their chemistry it seemed like she was forcing herself to like him at times. I don't think she played off the slowly growing affectionate bit well. But he's a MILF Hunter so I give Edward credit
I remember like 3 weeks ago there was someone who posted about it and then a couple of times here and there very rarely there were posts about it. I think I've made two or three of them.
Yeah at 3 or 4.
I should qualify my statement, The Birdcage is not dark at all, I meant it's adult humor which Robin didn't really do outside of his standup. To most boomers he was still Mork, to kids he was Genie, so Smoochie felt really out of left field.
You haven't watched The Birdcage? It's Robin Williams, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane and Hank Azaria. That movie should be required viewing for anybody that posts on this board.
apologies anon. Gonna watch it in an hour or so
>I think she was pretty hot in the film. But I never really did buy their chemistry it seemed like she was forcing herself to like him at times. I don't think she played off the slowly growing affectionate bit well. But he's a MILF Hunter so I give Edward credit
I just didn't buy it. She was simply too old. She had wrinkles on her face playing the love interest to a Fight Club era Norton, practically a fricking kid (that animal Blundetto, I can't even say his name). If there had at least been some detail in the movie like Smoochie's mom abandoned him when he was a kid so he had mommy issues his relationship with Catherine gratified then you could at least get it from that angle, although I guess that would have made the movie even darker, probably would have overloaded it even more in that aspect. Still, as it stood it was just a baffling relationship.
I think that actually would have been a better touch to be honest
I think the issue is that the central conceit of the film is that Norton is supposed to be the lone clean, unsullied man in this ocean of filth, so giving him some pathology like that would have dirtied him and thrown the whole thing off conceptually. Still, I think it could have worked in a 'flawed people accepting their flaws and still finding love with each other' kind of way.
I think it would have been kind of interesting to have them harbor a little bit of past trauma which is why he's so positive to begin with. I would say though to fit with the tone of the comedy make the trauma light enough that it can be used as a punchline. We could say that Edward had a mama that didn't believe in his abilities so he kept trying and trying and trying and when he finally gets scouted it brightens up his day even more. It would be like a pseudo Oedipus plot line which might have turned people off a little bit too much but I'm sure Danny DeVito is brilliant enough to make it funny
It's not the funniest film ever but it's definitely one of the better comedies that I've seen actually had genuine laugh out loud moments.
I avoided this movie for years because of the bad reviews and word of mouth, caught it late one night and laughed my ass off.
Its probably the best/funniest movie that no one has ever heard of.
It’s really not that funny
Genuinely can't think of a funnier movie off the top of my head besides The Birdcage.
Off the top of my head, face/off makes me laugh the hardest. Also blue velvet and king of comedy. You just seem like a Robin Williams shill
Face/off? The John Woo movie? I see you're some sort of weirdo. Don't talk to me again.
I know it’s not supposed to be a comedy but it might be the funniest movie I’ve ever seen
That's understandable there's a lot of funny moments in the movie
lol I rented this movie like 10 times as a kid
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Every single one of these lines is making me laugh. Robin really carried this shit. Catherine Keener's character was awful and she was too old for Norton's character, for them to be a couple. Straight up she looks like his fricking mom.
Yea she was bad. Norton plays a country bumpkin type so I don’t think the pairing was off. She just stinks
Robin Williams always looks like he's already dead inside. By the way, why did he stop acting? I can't even remember when the last movie with him came out.
Didn't he do that TV show with buffy before he died?
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Ebert has admitted that he just doesn’t really get comedy most of the time. Death to Smoochy’s biggest issue was its timing. It was the early post 9/11 era and people weren’t prepared for the dark side of Robin Williams.
Very, very good point which had not ocurred to me.
What’s with the recent shilling of this mediocre comedy?
It’s really an underrated gem. It probably just popped up on some normie streaming service, and now zoomers are experiencing it for the first time.
Have there been other threads about it lately? This is the first Death To Smoochie film I've seen on Cinemaphile in ages. Can you link them in the archives, I want to read the takes of other big brained fellows like me that also enjoyed this film.
It’s sickening how 2000’s this movie looks. The cinematography, Robin Williams with a caesar, just too much
I saw this in theaters and it's still one of my favorite comedies. People have no fricking taste and the poor reception of this movie shows it.
This movie got a ton of marketing hype and just flopped
IT'S SMALL BUT FIERCE!
underrated movie.
DeVito got blown off the stage by Williams and Norton in this tbqh. Didn't even remember he was in the film.
Well yeah DeVito played a stereotypical DeVito role. I expected him to frick over Edward's character as soon as he got the chance but he actually helps him until he realizes he's not going to play ball with the corruption
I honestly think reviewers just didn't watch this shit because Barney is gay, no I'm not kidding.