Robin Williams died 12 years ago this past Aug. 11. His death and the cause sent shockwaves through people who had watched him for years. It was revealed he had Lewy Body Dementia and may not have been thinking clearly. It’s reported he was a watch collector and days before his death had a friend look after them as he was afraid someone would steal them.
He made us laugh and he made us cry, especially his death and rewatching his work. But after he won an Oscar, he decided to take on riskier roles in thrillers like One Hour Photo and Insomnia where he wasn’t the good guy.
Both of those movies were released in 2002 which began with the dark satire Death to Smoochey. Now this movie by no means is good even on reassessment. It’s mostly notable as a failure of so many talented people.
Directed by Danny DeVito who co-stars as Burke Bennett, a sleazy corrupt talent agent, it’s written by Adam Resnick, writer on Late Night With David Letterman, Saturday Night Live and The Larry Sanders Show.
Williams plays Rainbow Randolph Smiley, a TV kids show hosts who is in the vein of Krusty the Clown, willing to make a buck off whatever merchandise he can sell. His promo for his line of merchandise ends with him saying “Log on. It’s not free.” Actually Randolph has been suspected of accepting bribes from parents who want him to select their kids during the opening number which has him dancing with dwarves so Randolph will hold the kids’ hands as they dance around the stage and then he’ll pop them up on his lap.
With eager parents willing to get their kids in show business, they say this is a way tl do it.
Yet everything comes crashing down when he gets busted by the FBI accepting an $100,000 bribe. The network cancels the show but needs a replacement. The only problem is most of the acts have checkered pasts some worst than Randolph. That is not the case with Sheldon Mopes (Edward Norton), who’s so honest and yet gullible he makes Mr. Rogers look like Mr. Blonde. Sheldon’s act Smoochy the Rhino is reduced to performing at a drug rehab clinic.
But network VP Marion Stokes (Jon Stewart) and producer Nora Wells (Catherine Keener) get Sheldon to come on board only to realize he wants to push healthy nutrition and refuses any for-profit marketing tie-ins. At the same time, Randolph tries to sabotage the show even getting Sheldon to perform Smoochy at a Nazi rally right before it’s busted by police.
It’s obvious Smoochy is a parody of Barney the Dinosaur which by 2002 had become tired for parody.
DeVito and Resnick do hit a nerve on the behind the scenes corruption and ugliness of Hollywood and the entertainment world even with kids show. We’re now hearing stories about how Alf and Growing Pains were very difficult behind the scenes even though they were considered family entertainment. Bill Cosby was reported to be sexually assaulting women while making Fat Albert and The Cosby Show. Other shows on Nickelodeon and The Disney Channel had child predators and abusive parents.
The late Vincent Schiavelli plays Buggy Ding Dong, another disgraced former kids show personality turned heroin addict and hit man. Because of his naivete, Sheldon gets too close to Tommy Cotter (Pam Ferris) with the Irish mob who forces him to hire Lawrence “Spinner” Dunn (Michael Rispoli) as Moochy on the show. He’s a retired boxer with brain damage who is a big fan of Smoochy.
DeVito and Resnick are showing us that show business is more about the business than the show. And sometimes that business is very dirty and shady. It makes you wonder what stories they heard about many movies, TV shows and celebrities in general before the MeToo Movement. It’s been suspected the Mafia and organized crime was connected to Hollywood and the Big TV networks.
We learn that Randolph wasn’t too bad, he just got caught. Like I said, it’s not a good movie. Williams never plays a slimeball so likeable as DeVito has. But he does have some good moments. Norton as Sheldon is ok but it’s nice to see this type of character stay on the straight and narrow. Usually this character becomes corrupt at the end.
I think that might be the reason it failed. It never really goes for the jugular on Randolph, Nora or Sheldon to show just how low they can go.
Zane Says 