DEATH TO SMOOCHY
Released: March 29, 2002
When he is fired for taking payola, the host for a children's television show (Robin Williams) plots revenge against his replacement, a rhino named Smoochy (Edward Norton). As Smoochy catapults to fame - scoring hit ratings and the affections of a jaded network executive (played by Catherine Keener) Williams makes the unsuspecting rhino the target of his numerous outrageous attempts to exact revenge and reclaim his status as America's favorite kiddy icon. Director Danny DeVito, who also stars - as a sleazy manager - gives us not so much an attack on the morals of media and Hollywood but an accurate glimpse of how people can be motivated in certain situations. The Norton character really believes in striving for a better life by not doing bad. His Smoochy songs reflect this optimism. When he is lured into the network TV show, he is met with various degrees of slime who try to corrupt him for their own benefit. Rather than a knee-jerk "I hate it stance" that most reviewers seem to be following, "Death To Smoochy" may not be the best film to attack Hollywood but I don't think DeVito was going for that. What he offers us is a movie which has a squeaky clean main character almost too clean for his own good who is pitted against every type of morally bankrupt character you can imagine and the resulting mess that ensues. No one can be as squeaky clean as Norton's Smoochy but then, there is a deeper point at hand here. Look beyond the critical rapings this movie has endured and go see it with an open mind. It's three great actors, a great director working their craft. And they do it well too. Harvey Fierstein and Vincent Schiavelli support and Jon Stewart plays the TV network boss who does what he has to when it comes to filling the shoes of the Williams character's Rainbow Randolph - one of the least likely children's show star names if I ever heard one. Much less appealing than Barney the purple dinosaur, that's for sure. Overall, this was a fun movie.