Death to Smoochy

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Death To Smoochy
"Death to Smoochy" poster
Directed by	Danny DeVito
Produced by	Andrew Lazar Peter Macgregor-Scott
Written by	Adam Resnick
Starring	Robin Williams Edward Norton Danny DeVito Catherine Keener Jon Stewart
Music by	David Newman
Cinematography	Anastas N. Michos
Editing by	Jon Poll
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	March 29, 2002
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$51,000,000
[http://allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:259834 rating:R Allmovie profile]
IMDb profile

Death to Smoochy is a 2002 dark comedy film starring Robin Williams, Edward Norton, and Catherine Keener. It also features Jon Stewart and Danny DeVito, who is also the film's director. Death to Smoochy is known for its mostly vulgar humor, particularly Williams' occasional cursing outbursts. This film also shows him playing a role very against his usual type of roles, as a corrupted, nearly psychopathic children's TV host.

1 Plot
2 Production
3 Critical Reception and Box Office Results
4 Errors
5 Details
6 Taglines
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Plot

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Please improve this article if you can. (September 2007)

Rainbow Randolph (Williams) enjoys his life and career as a happily corrupt children's television show host, until he is caught by a federal sting for accepting bribes from parents who want their children on the show. He is soon replaced by the "squeaky clean", but sappy, Sheldon Mopes, and his character, Smoochy the Rhino (Norton) (a parody of Barney the Dinosaur). Randolph finds himself unemployed and homeless, virtually outcast from television by his two-faced associate Marion Stokes (Stewart), a slimy TV executive. In an effort to return to his life in the spotlight, Randolph develops several schemes to bring down Sheldon Mopes in hopes to reclaim his timeslot.

When not fighting for creative control, Sheldon tries to maintain a stable relationship with fellow employee Nora (Keener), who later becomes Sheldon's love interest. Upon hearing about this relationship, Randolph decides to make it known about the wild times that he and Nora once had, going as far as to comment on how "limber" Nora was. Something of a warped love triangle develops, as Nora completely denies having any feelings for Rainbow anymore.

"What are you, blind? It's a cock!

Beneath all of what is happening around him, Mopes engages in shady connections with the Irish mob, as well as a charity run by Merv Green (Harvey Fierstein) that is more imposing than beneficial. The mob, headed by the sympathetic Tommy Cotter (Pam Ferris) confronts Sheldon in his new office, demanding that her cousin, the former pro boxer Spinner, be given a spot on the Smoochy show. Mopes, fearing for his life, accepts the "offer" and puts Spinner on the show. Spinner, after many years of taking blows to the head, is mentally handicapped and speaks like a very loud five-year-old. After a stint in the show playing the cowbell (and giving Tommy a headache), Spinner is placed in the role of Smoochy's cousin, Moochy the Rhino. Meanwhile, a despondent Randolph is taken in by Angelo (Danny Woodburn), an old co-star during Randolph's reign as host who now works on Mopes' show.

The corrupt "Parade of Hope" Foundation comes into play as Burke Bennett (DeVito) purposely bumps into Sheldon - who is drinking orange juice - at a bar. Bennett comes forward with an offer to Sheldon for full executive control of the Smoochy show. Not knowing who Burke is associated with, the naive Mopes accepts. Burke does indeed get Sheldon full creative control, but later that week signs Smoochy up for a touring ice skating show. Sheldon strongly opposes the idea, seeing it as only a way for the company to make more money. Bennett urges Mopes to reconsider, but to no avail. Sheldon is then confronted by charity boss Merv Green (Fierstein), who twists Sheldon's arm into doing the ice show. However, Merv's life is abruptly ended when he orders a hit on Sheldon that results in Spinner getting killed after his Moochy costume is mistaken for the Smoochy costume. Tommy and her crew behead Merv in a story retold to Sheldon, who is aghast.

The ice show goes on, without vendors or corporate interference, with all profits going to charity. What Mopes does not know is that Burke and Stokes have hired drug addict Buggy Ding Dong (Vincent Schiavelli), another former children's show host, to murder Mopes during his ice show. Rainbow Randolph, who ultimately realizes that Sheldon Mopes is a good and honest man, finds out about the assassination attempt to kill Smoochy during the show. Rainbow then stops the murder, just in time, and Buggy falls from the rafters onto the ice. After Sheldon realizes that Burke and Stokes set him up, he chases after Burke into an alleyway. Sheldon, enraged, pulls a gun and threatens to kill Burke. Tommy and her men arrive just in time to prevent Sheldon from losing face and take over in 'taking care' of Burke. Stokes is also in their captivity and Tommy indicates that they'll eliminate Burke and Stokes, getting Sheldon to leave so he doesn't have to witness it. After a violent outburst, Sheldon finally sees eye to eye with Randolph. The two decide to join forces (with Nora as well) and continue the ice tour together as Rainbow Randolph and Smoochy the Rhino.

[edit] Production

The movie was filmed in Toronto, Hamilton, Ontario^[1] and New York City. Including Union Station, all of the TV studio scenes were shot at the Toronto Film Studios. The scenes involving ice-skating were filmed at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

[edit] Critical Reception and Box Office Results

The film was poorly received by most film critics. Though it received a wide release, playing in some 2,164 theaters its opening weekend in the United States, the film was a box office disaster, grossing $4,266,463 its opening weekend, and a mere $8,382,691 overall, with negligible foreign box office receipts.[1] Considering it had a production budget of some $50 million, Death to Smoochy was a financial failure. Danny DeVito begins the DVD audio commentary with the lines "Hello. It's Danny. It's been, um... I guess now a few months since the release of Death to Smoochy, so the mourning period is over." Despite all this, the movie has recently gained a cult following.^[2]

[edit] Errors

Mopes (Norton) in the beginning of the film claims he was born on November 11, 1970, the first broadcast of Sesame Street. This is incorrect, due to the fact that Sesame Street premiered on November 10, 1969 on the National Educational Television network.

[edit] Details

Jon Stewart often mentions the fact that he was the "fourth male lead" in the movie as an example of his acting ability or lack thereof as he suggests. The film is a frequent in-joke of self-deprecating humor on The Daily Show.

Henry Rollins, lead singer of Rollins Band, auditioned for the part of Spinner, but was not cast after "freaking Danny DeVito the fuck out" and "hurling a chair across the room."