If it wasn't obvious from his past work that Danny DeVito has love
of black comedy and a real mean streak - whether directing, writing
and/or starring in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Ruthless People,
Throw Mama From the Train, War of the Roses, Drowning Mona - it's
pretty darn apparent with his latest foray into demented comedy, Death
to Smoochy. The critics didn't seem to like this twisted, satirical
look at the buckaroos behind children's television, so I must have
been one of the few who did. More than its fair share of jokes fall
flat, but on the whole I found the humor right on the mark, and the
high-caliber performances from Robin Williams and Edward Norton only
sweeten the deal.
Rainbow Randolph (Williams) is the top dog
in his morning television time slot, but his greed and taste for
degradation leads to an arrest, and soon he's out of work. The stunned
network don't want any more embarrassments, so enter goody-two-shoes
Sheldon (Norton), who becomes an overnight fucia-clad rhinoceros
sensation. Jealousy, betrayal, greed and the Irish mob all somehow get
added to the mix, as Randolph mounts a campaign to destroy his new
found adversary. Danny DeVito directs and costars once gain
with this one, and displays his typical penchant for delving into
wretched characters. Rainbow is the complete opposite of the
impossibly good-natured Sheldon, who even when faced with ferocious
wickedness turns the other cheek. Some hated the frenetic pacing but I
thought it was wonderful, taking only a few moments to catch its
breath to sing a jolly song. The film tanked terribly, barely scraping
up $8 million at the box office, a rare bomb for the usually
unstoppable Williams. With DeVito, Norton, Williams, Keener and Jon
Stewart all on board, I imagine this was a rather expensive flop
Warner, but then just who was the target audience supposed to
be? Hard to say, and however unique a film it may be, now that the WB
is bringing it to DVD, it may be worth indulging your curiosity. Fans
of the stars or just very, very black comedy should check it out.
Video: How Does The Disc Look? 
Death to Smoochy is
presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen (a pan & scan version is
also being released), and looks pretty dang good. The print is in
great shape with no blemishes to distract. This film has a very dark
color palette, so fortunately blacks and contrast are excellent.
Colors are perfectly saturated, with clean and stable hues, and
fleshtones accurate. Detail in general is excellent despite the film's
dark look, with each fiber of Smoochy's outfit visible. Edge
enhancement is present but only mildly distracting, and there aren't
any blocking or compression artifacts. Overall, a great transfer.
Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?
Presented in Dolby
Digital 5.1 and recorded at 448 kbps, the audio doesn't measure up to
the video, with a mix that is less than aggressive. Truly suffering
from your typical comedic track syndrome, the rears are rarely active
for anything other than slight ambient effects or score extension.
However, the real star of the show is the dialogue and a very alive
front soundstage. Here, all elements are superbly balanced with
dialogue securely anchored in the center channel. Left to right pans
are somewhat meager but seamless. The subwoofer doesn't get that great
a workout, with only slight deep bass to support the rest of the mix.
This isn't a bad track to be sure, just not something to get real
excited about.
There is also a French-Quebec 5.1 dub included,
as well as English, French and Spanish subtitles and English Closed
Captions. 
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
The
DVD snap case describes the extras as "Rhino-mite!", and at
least a few of them actually are. First up we have a screen-
specific audio commentary by Danny DeVito and director of
photography Anastas Michos. It appears that they recorded the
commentary separately as Michos is only intermittently spliced into
Danny's track. Thankfully, Mr. DeVito has a lot of cool things to say,
and the inclusion of Michos actually doesn't distract, only adding
almost always welcome technical or inside tidbits. This is a very good
commentary and may make some give the film another shot.
Next
we have an almost 8 minute behind the scenes featurette that
for once actually feels like a making of, albeit a short one. We get a
brief glimpse at the special effects, stunts and other production
hurdles, and only occasionally stopping to hear a Robin Williams joke.
No silly chats or advertising here. Not incredibly informative, but it
sure is neat to actually look behind the scenes for once instead of at
EPK interviews.
In the Additional Scenes section
included are no less than 10 non-anamorphic excised segments, which
are basically short edits rather than full-on deleted scenes. Each of
them has a one-page text intro.
The bloopers and outtakes
reel runs for nearly 5 minutes; these are fun but for a Williams
movie aren't as hysterical as they should have been, and it runs for
about 2 minutes too long. Something called the Interactive Ice
Show puts you at the control of your very own porn movie...er..I
mean multiple angle feature. Here, using the least-pushed button on
your DVD remote control, you can switch between four angles during the
"Ice Show" scene. Sort of annoying like multiple angles
often can be, but mildly intriguing.
The Magic Cookie
section offers a bunch of self running stills in five categories:
"Behind the scenes," "Production Design Sketches,"
"Costume Design Sketches," "Other Art Materials,"
"Production Stills" and a very silly "Smoochy's Summer
Vacation." The last is a photo show from the Michos family
vacation with a Smoochy action figure. Yikes! More text extras include
a filmography listings of the cast, Danny DeVito and the writer.
Rounding it all out are three trailers: the "Theatrical
Trailer" (anamorphic, 2.0 surround), "Danny's Trailer"
(non-anamorphic, 2.0 stereo) and the "Jungle Trailer" (
(non-anamorphic, 2.0 stereo). I can only presume that Danny's trailer
is the one he wanted to be seen, and it is pretty darn good, as is the
Jungle trailer. Rather curious, as I don't remember seeing either of
them on TV or in theaters. Poor marketing? The box office tells no
lies.
DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the
disc in your PC?
Pop the disc in your drive and the usual
Warner custom interface pops up, but there aren't any real exclusive
ROM extras, just the usual weblinks.
Parting
Thoughts
Well, I surely dug this film, as any Robin
Williams or Edward Norton or Danny DeVito or Jon Stewart or Katherine
Keener fan would, but most others didn't. It performed miserably in
theaters, but this disc is at the very least worth a rent. Easily
recommendable for what you get.
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