Hollywood Reviews and Movie Trivia

For completely different reasons, I'm certain that parents everywhere have uttered a variation of this title in relation to a guy in a padded purple costume. This movie, centered around Rainbow Randolph (Robin Williams) and Smoochy the Rhino (Edward Norton), may be about children's show hosts, but it is most definitely not for children. Playing off the assumed corruption that exists behind the scenes of children's TV, we find Rainbow Randolph ousted from his prime TV spot for accepting a bribe, only to be replaced by the straight and narrow Smoochy. A corrupt non-profit turns up the heat, giving the show enough drama to make the humor work. Hearing Norton perform the children's classic Old MacDonald Had a Farm, with the words changed to relate to patients in a methadone clinic is worth the rental fee for this movie alone - in fact, all his songs are reasonably funny. The deleted scenes show just how disturbing the movie could have been, making it obvious that Danny Devito, as director, showed some intelligent restraint. If you've ever known a child in love with a purple dinosaur, you'll appreciate this movie on several levels; even if you haven't, it's still funny in an absurd way.