Death to Smoochy
| Death to Smoochy | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| 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 |
| Edited by | Jon Poll |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $50 million |
| Box office | $8,382,938 |
Death to Smoochy is a 2002 American black comedy film directed by Danny DeVito, and starring Robin Williams, Edward Norton, Catherine Keener, Jon Stewart and DeVito. Despite being a critical and commercial flop when it was first released, in recent years, it has garnered a bit of a cult following.
Randolph Smiley is the host of "The Rainbow Randolph Show", a popular children's tv show. Despite his friendly appearance on-stage, off-stage he is an arrogant and corrupt businessman who accepts bribes from parents who want to put their kids on his show. After an FBI sting exposes him, Randolph is fired and his show is cancelled. He is replaced with the "squeaky clean" Sheldon Mopes and his character, Smoochy the Rhino. Mopes is uniquely sincere and thoroughly interested in providing quality children's entertainment, and despite doubts from his hardened producer Nora Wells, his show quickly becomes tremendously popular. Meanwhile, Randolph turns to his former associate Marion Stokes and pleads to help him get his job back, but Stokes refuses. After several failed attempts to get Mopes fired, Randolph turns to his former partner Angelo Pike and asks if he can stay at his apartment, to which Angelo reluctantly agrees.
Mopes quickly finds himself losing creative control over his show to Nora and with the help of his new agent Burke Bennett, Mopes renegotiates his contract and is named executive producer. Irish mob boss Tommy Cotter approaches Mopes and asks him to create a spot on his show for her cousin Spinner Dunn, a former boxer whose numerous head injuries have left him with brain damage. Mopes reluctantly adds Spinner to the show, first as a cowbell-wielding game warden, and later on as Smoochy's cousin Moochy.
Mopes is horrified to learn that Burke has signed him up to star in a Smoochy ice show, as he fears that the event will exploit children. Burke and Merv Green, the head of the corrupt charity running the ice show, warn Mopes not to back out of the event but he does so anyway. Soon afterward, a disguised Randolph tricks Mopes into performing a Smoochy act at a neo-Nazi rally. Mopes is branded a racist and loses his job and show, and Nora refuses to help him. However, when Randolph barges into Nora's apartment and tries to convince her to help him get his job back, he accidentally reveals that he set Mopes up. Tommy and her crew then barge into Angelo's apartment and force Randolph to confess that he tricked Mopes. As a result, Mopes' show is restored and Randolph is dubbed the most hated man in America by the media. To make matters worse, a fed up Angelo kicks Randolph out of his house. After telling him that his show is back on the air, Nora kisses Mopes and has sex with him.
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