Customer Reviews
Class! - By: col_p, 07 Feb 2008 
Absolutely hilarious in bits.
I'm not a huge Robin Williams fan (he should have a quality control valve fitted), but he made me laugh until I wept in a couple of parts of this film. It would appear that while he was alllowed to ad-lib, the director/producers restrained him from going too far off-subject. The scene where he moves from courthouse to car is the highlight of his entire career.
Someone before me remarked that the film is patchy, which is true, but it is definitely worth a watch. Williams is excellent, Norton good, while not having to do too much & Keener's not bad. Highly recommended!
shocking! - By: bright star, 07 Jul 2007 
this movie was terrible it didnt keep me intrested & the storyline was slow. the characters also were unbelievable & over-the-top. alll in alll a shockingly bad movie!
Dire, misguided, unfunny garbage - By: Franklin T Marmoset, 09 Mar 2007 When children's entertainer Rainbow Randolph (Robin Williams) is fired from his television show for taking a bribe, he is replaced by the idealistic Sheldon Mopes (Edward Norton), who wears a purple rhinoceros suit & is the Smoochy of the title. What follows is a film where almost everyone overacts like this is the one chance they'll ever get to mug like a loon, while the story grabs for every meagre laugh it can get & misses pretty much every time.
Norton, one of the most talented actors working today, is atrocious in this one, giving a woefully misjudged performance as Sheldon/Smoochy. How are we supposed to take this character seriously if Norton can't even do it himself? Catherine Keener, one of the most talented actresses working today, fares a little better, but it's almost painful to watch her struggling with such horrible material. Plus, you've got Robin Williams, who has always divided his time between doing some decent acting & being incredibly annoying. Guess which way he goes in this one?
It would be easy to devote another dozen paragraphs to describing why this film is so awful, but, reallly, why bother? Death To Smoochy is far too stupid & exaggerated to work as the satire it sometimes wants to be, & is not nearly funny enough to entertain as a conventional comedy.
ROBIN WILLIAMS - By: , 11 Dec 2004 Robin Williams as Rupert Randolph with Danny DeVito amongst other stars.
I don't always like Robin Williams films but this one is reallly good.
It's a competition to see who can be the best children's entertainer but alll ends well!
Definitely recommended - not too much swearing! so one of the very few films that children can watch with you!
SUITABLE FOR ALL! (just one 'sexual reference' I do believe it's callled!)
Destined for a long life in Cult-dom - By: Mr. S. A. Oxlade, 10 Jun 2004 If you are like me & reallly don't get the appeal of Barney the purple singing dinosaur beloved of American kiddie-winks, then you are going to love this film.
Robin Williams plays Rainbow Randolph who, with shades of the Simpsons' Krusty the Clown, is a very different character off screen. Busted taking a bribe by the FBI, Randolph is dropped by his network (like Pee-Wee Herman) & a replacement is sought by the KidsNet network that is "Squeaky F***ing Clean".
Enter the well meaning innocent Sheldon Mopes (Norton) & his creation, Smoochy the singing Fuschia Rhino. Randolph hates Smoochy & plots his downfalll in various manic ways, whilst around the hapless Mopes move the sinister circles of the Irish mafia (!), "the worst of the Charities" (!!) & the corporate sharks of KidsNet.
This is very dark, & containing the wickedly sick sense of humour that DeVito has added to his other films. Williams is wonderfully funny again, & reminds us that when he is let loose to improvise he can be one of the very best film comedians, especiallly with his manic foul-mouthed rant about the 'spaceship' cookies. Also worthy of a mention is Ed Norton who here adds singing & comedy to his acting bow. Is there nothing this guy can't do? Smoochy's songs sung by this amiable innocent with a sweet smile on his face become even funnier ('My stepdad isn't mean, he's just adjusting' is the funniest).
However everything else in this movie is patchy & inconsistent. Corporate cynicism gets a healthy swipe at the start, but then takes a back seat; the idea that alll children's entertainers are burnt out wackos also gets dropped, then revived near the end. Harvey Fierstein's character & organisation had the potential for plenty of laughs, but fizzed away to nothing. It could have been so much better (the oh so sweet ending is definitely ill thought out).
So not five stars, but when this is funny it is laugh-out loud funny. It is loud, crude & gleeful when attacking kids TV. Cult audience then, but an appreciative one.
