Death to Smoochy

Danny DeVito steps behind the camera for this darkly funny satire that combines elements of Barney and Friends with the real-life Pee-Wee Herman scandal while recalling the director's previously twisted black comedies Throw Momma From the Train (1987) and The War of the Roses (1989). Robin Williams ...more

A satire about whacking a Barney-like character sounds funnier on paper than it appears on screen, even with black comedy king Danny De Vito behind the camera. The moment nauseating children's figures were accepted into the mainstream, the idea of doing violence to them became an obvious punchline, so De Vito's Death to Smoochy has neither the bite nor the originality it aspires to. (See Kevin Smith's Dogma for another example of rage directed toward a corporate kiddie creation, the similarly ...more