Comparing the Film Buddy to Death to Smoochy

Earlier this year, the indie horror phenomenon Obsession pulled off the impossible by making more money on its second weekend in theaters than it did in its first. This month, that happened again with another horror film, Buddy, which earned $5.3 million during the weekend of August 28 before raking in another $5.7 million over Labor Day weekend. While those numbers remain nowhere near Obsession blockbusters, it marks a big win for a horror flick operating on a mere $3 million budget.

Buddy centers on a group of kids featured in a Barney & Friends-style children’s show. They sing songs and learn lessons from Buddy, an adorable orange unicorn voiced by Keegan-Michael Key. Over time, the kids begin to notice strange behaviors from Buddy, such as how he forces children to sing and dance even when they refuse. When some of the young cast members go missing, the remaining kids grow suspicious and discover that Buddy is a vicious killer.

Buddy boasts a fantastic premise, and its best asset is Buddy himself, who looks, feels, and sounds like a real kiddie-show mascot from the 1990s. Critical acclaim for the film might place this reviewer in the minority, but the movie fails to live up to its ingenious idea. With an adorable, fluffy, killer unicorn at its center, expectations pointed toward a project that was both funny and scary, yet the film only elicited a few chuckles while leaning far more into gore than genuine terror. Gore has its place, but it fails to substitute for true dread.

Watching Buddy proved so disappointing that it sparked a yearning for a far more satisfying takedown of Barney the dinosaur, the 2002 comedy Death to Smoochy.

Directed by Danny DeVito, Death to Smoochy explores the corrupt and fictionalized world of children’s programming. The story begins when a long-running kiddie show host named Rainbow Randolph, played by Robin Williams, gets arrested for accepting a bribe from parents to feature their child on his show. The bribe turns out to be an FBI sting operation, crashing Rainbow Randolph’s career. As a replacement, the network hires singer and songwriter Sheldon Mopes, played by Edward Norton, who dresses up as a big purple rhinoceros named Smoochy. DeVito plays his corrupt talent agent. Smoochy becomes a massive phenomenon while Randolph continues to spiral, eventually leading an emotionally unstable Randolph to decide the only way back to the top is to kill Smoochy.

Similar to DeVito’s earlier films Throw Momma from the Train and The War of the Roses, Death to Smoochy operates as a pitch-black comedy with a very morbid and twisted sense of humor. Put mildly, Death to Smoochy appeals to a niche audience, a lesson DeVito learned the hard way back in 2002 when the film grossed just $8 million against a $50 million budget. In the years since, Death to Smoochy has built a devoted cult following praising it as some of the finest work from DeVito, Norton, and Williams.

Robin Williams and Edward Norton at their very best

Beyond its sharply written, fast-moving script full of jokes, Death to Smoochy features a stacked cast including Catherine Keener, Harvey Fierstein, Jon Stewart, Danny Woodburn, Michael Rispoli, Vincent Schiavelli, and Pam Ferris. Viewers might not recognize every name, but they certainly know the faces. These performers build a fun, eclectic supporting cast, though the film’s peak moments tie directly into its two leads, both delivering wildly funny performances unlike anything else in their careers.

In pure comedies like Aladdin and Mrs. Doubtfire, Williams played broad comedy, while psychological thrillers like One Hour Photo and Insomnia showcased him portraying deeply disturbed, dangerous men. Outside of Death to Smoochy, he never combined both approaches into a single character.

Early in the movie, Rainbow Randolph is a greedy, cynical man indifferent to children, caring only about keeping cash flowing. When he loses everything, he lashes out violently, especially toward Smoochy. He crafts crackpot plans to ruin the rhino, such as sneaking penis-shaped cookies into an on-camera segment with kids. He also tricks Smoochy into performing for a Nazi rally, which briefly hurts Smoochy’s career and spawns the hilarious moment where American Nazis chant “Heil Smoochy!”

As Rainbow Randolph sinks lower, he paradoxically becomes more sympathetic. Viewers find themselves rooting for him to take Smoochy down despite Randolph clearly being in the wrong. While audiences have seen Williams play similar notes before, experiencing them all at once makes for a laugh-out-loud funny spectacle.

Edward Norton stars as Sheldon Mopes. Norton had recently broken out as a major star with Fight Club a few years prior, making his choice to tackle a broad comedy playing a cheesy, wide-eyed innocent a surprising pivot. He completely transforms into a unique character compared to his darker work.

Sheldon Mopes, also known as Smoochy, is the genuine article, functioning like Mr. Rogers dressed as Barney. Mopes is kind, charitable, somewhat naive, and indifferent to the money he earns, caring only about the good it can do. As Stewart’s network executive observes in the movie, Mopes resembles “a bottle of pancake syrup with legs,” though Mopes might object due to sugar content concerns since he cares deeply about nutrition. Mopes remains a totally honest cornball, making it delightfully bizarre that audiences end up rooting against him.

DeVito’s dark, delicate touch

Along with Williams and Norton, director DeVito deserves primary credit for this twisted tale. Across multiple films, including Matilda and his other previously mentioned titles, DeVito displays a perplexing yet shockingly coherent blend of dark comedy and charming sweetness. Rainbow Randolph remains a despicable character, yet watching him sing and dance in a glittery rainbow-colored jacket proves intensely entertaining. Mopes is entirely sincere, yet his songs feature sneakily dark lyrics, such as “My Stepdad’s Not Mean (He’s Just Adjusting),” sung to a group of children who join in. Despite the heavy killing and dirty jokes, Death to Smoochy concludes with a bright, sunny resolution that feels unearned yet strangely perfect in its childlike innocence. DeVito possesses a rare knack for marrying disparate elements into a fantastically funny film, even if those qualities take time to find an audience outside the theater.

In that regard, Buddy has surpassed Death to Smoochy financially, even before factoring in two decades of inflation. Yet for viewers who caught Death to Smoochy in theaters back in 2002 and loved it, alongside the devoted fans who discovered it later, no orange unicorn will ever dethrone the favorite fuchsia rhinoceros.

Buddy is currently in theaters. Death to Smoochy streams for free on Hoopla and the Roku Channel.

Source: Polygon