Danny DeVito’s pitch black children’s TV satire Death to Smoochy was one of the biggest financial flops of 2002. The film only grossed $8.3 million on a $50 million budget for Warner Bros, despite the presence of Robin Williams and Edward Norton in the leads, as disgraced host Rainbow Randolph and Smoochy the Rhino, respectively. Critics savaged the film, and co-star Jon Stewart has not stopped apologizing for it in the years since its release. The thing is, though, Death to Smoochy isn’t a bad movie. In fact, it’s kind of great, and we dig into this much-maligned satire on this week’s episode of WTF Happened to this Movie!
For one thing, Death to Smoochy is part of an interesting trilogy Robin Williams did in the mid-2000s. For a time, Williams decided to play with his screen image, taking on villainous roles, with this sandwiched between One Hour Photo and Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia. On the surface, Smoochy probably seemed like the most commercial of these films, with his Rainbow Randolph having a good side in the end and the fact that it was a big studio comedy. Still, those other two movies outgrossed this by a considerable margin. This was right up his alley for director Danny DeVito, with him specializing in black comedy, having made the brilliant Throw Mama from the Train in 1986, and The War of the Roses in 1989.
This episode of WTF Happened to this Movie is written by Brad Hamerly, edited by César Gabriel, narrated by Dave Davis, produced by Ben Cantler and executive produced by Berge Garabedian.
Check out previous episodes below and let us know what you think of Death to Smoochy in the comments!