USA, R, 109 m, 2002
Directed by Danny DeVito. Stars Robin Williams, Edward Norton, Danny DeVito, et al.

Danny DeVito’s inky satire Death to Smoochy takes off magnificently as Randolph Smiley, the kooky toastmaster of the highly popular KidNet program “Rainbow Randolph,” frolics about the show’s gaudy set, singing the snappy, though tortuously saccharine “Friends Come in All Sizes.” Played by a fittingly unchecked Robin Williams, Randolph is festooned in the clownish finery befitting his status (a white bowler and sequined jacket with variegated bands), but his delicate dance steps are curiously effeminate. (He’s also the most disingenuous of pitchmen, hocking tacky goods in a fashion that would make Krusty the Klown stand up and take notice.) We long to see more of Williams’ elegantly comic hoofing, but within moments, Randolph is canned over a payola scandal and then replaced by a squeaky-clean do-gooder named Sheldon Mopes (Edward Norton). Sheldon’s alter-ego is a bulging, fuchsia rhinoceros named Smoochy, and once he becomes a hit with the kids, a spiteful Randolph vows to destroy him. 

From his puffy costume to his Pollyannaish worldview, Smoochy is an obvious goof on Barney, but the gag feels shopworn. (C’mon, guys, Barney? That is sooo ten years ago!) Worse, his creator, Sheldon, is such a clean-living dullard that you can’t help but lose interest in him early on, and his incessant recital of homespun platitudes fails to elicit any laughs. This could be because Norton elects to play him as a complete put-on, continuously winking at the camera. But by deciding not to play the character straight, we can’t discern until the closing credits if this country-bumpkin is the real McCoy or a deceitful crud like his doppelganger Randolph. Norton is probably miscast here, but DeVito’s previous black comedies, particularly The War of the Roses, also faltered because everyone involved behaved as if they were acting outside of the frame, pointing to the nastiness on the screen and chortling alongside the audience. But if DeVito would insist on his actors playing their parts straight, his films just might work, by the by, as comedies. Death to Smoochy is not only the least funny of all the director’s efforts, but it’s also the most dispassionate and structurally incoherent. (Much of the fault probably lies with screenwriter Adam Resnick.) We never get a sense of how Smoochy succeeds in winning over his kiddy audience; the usual time-compressed montage of flashing light bulbs and twirling magazines depicts his elevation to celebrity status. What we need to know is what makes Smoochy so endearing to kids that they’ll even give up junk food and embrace his more healthful snack alternatives. After all, how many kids do you know that will knock off Twin Bings just because a purple rhino tells them to?   

After several botched attempts to disgrace Smoochy, the increasingly crazed Randolph finally arrives at an idea: he affects a disguise and tricks his arch-nemesis into performing at a neo-Nazi rally. The film becomes even more astoundingly half-witted when a detachment of baton-wielding cops raids the goose-stepping assembly, and shutterbugs on hand dutifully capture the whole thing for the morning papers. I’m sorry, but isn’t this a violation of Smoochy’s First Amendment rights? I mean, since when did it become illegal in this country for the people (even neo-Nazis) to peaceably assemble? No matter, the scandal wrecks Smoochy’s credibility with the tots, and Randolph does an adorable little jig down the street when he learns of Sheldon’s firing. I’d certainly parrot that footwork if DeVito swore to never make another piece of dreck like this again. 

NOTE: There seems to be two camps of Robin Williams fans: one wishes to see buffoonery like Death to Smoochy expunged from his repertoire; the other feels that this is right where he belongs. I, for one, subscribe to neither because I’ve always enjoyed Williams’ comic undertakings as much as his dramatic, and applaud his willingness to take chances. I just wish he’d exercise a little more discretion when selecting projects. 

March 29, 2002

© Copyright 2007 by Edward Larsen Terkelsen. All rights reserved.