Death to Smoochy

Why does Jon Stewart keep apologizing to the world for his participation in Death to Smoochy? Reports of its suckitude have been greatly exaggerated. The film, which depicts the rise and fall of kid-TV show host Sheldon "Smoochy the Rhino" Mopes (Ed Norton), is certainly not the stinker that it has been touted to be. Roger Ebert wrote that, "In all the annals of the movies, few films have been this odd, inexplicable, and unpleasant." I'd like to sit Mr. Ebert down in front of Sizzle Beach U.S.A. or Nukie. He'd beg for Death to Smoochy.

As a comedy Smoochy ranks somewhere above Girls Just Want to Have Fun and somewhere below Hairspray, but it is regularly funny and Ed Norton is always a pleasure to watch in action. Robin Williams' shtick gets angrier every time I see him, but Rainbow Randolph (Williams' character, who is ousted when the FBI busts him for taking bribes to get kids onto his show) is a pretty angry character. Catherine Keener, who is regularly the best thing about the movies in which she appears, could not have been cast more perfectly.

I'm glad I didn't see this in the theater -- it's hardly worth fifteen bucks plus popcorn money -- but I don't think it deserves of the abuse it took in the press, either.