Drowning Mona

Why are people so hard on Drowning Mona? I just saw it and enjoyed it a lot. In years to come I believe it will be seen as the same genre as The Good Girl - an attempt to bring very ordinary people to life without apologizing for their ordinariness. In A Good Girl, Jennifer Aniston works very hard to portray an ordinary, poorly-educated young woman in a dead-end job. She has to really work hard to suppress the natural intelligence of a very bright mind and make her ordinary girl sufficiently dumb. But she does it beautifully. In Drowning Mona - portraying Bobby Calzone, Casey `Affleck has a similar challenge. I think he creates his character brilliantly. I am so shocked to find higher up this page that Casey is ashamed of his work on this movie. Can this be true? It seems quite possible - on my DVD package he is the only major cast-member who doesn't give an interview. Casey is handsome and delightful but he manages to leave an impression of terminal dumbness. All the guy wants is to make a reasonable living fixing gardens, but his problems seem insurmountable and it's getting to him. I get the feeling that none of the cast were stirred or excited with Drowning Mona - you need to see the on-set interviews to judge this. Nevertheless it is a successful little film in its own terms and has a lot of gentle humor in it. Affleck, deVito, Midler, Lee Curtis do a very professional ensemble piece as you would expect. As a former copywriter I find the landscaping company slogan hysterically funny: J & B Landscaping - `Yeah, we can do that'. I get the impression the whole cast read through a rather 'thin' script and said exactly that.

From the ratings here on this site, I didn't expect too much seeing it on dvd. However, I had a good time and the movie was quite entertaining. The humor is mostly subtle but intelligent. Casey Affleck is amazing and totally reminded me of his brother Ben in some scenes. Overall, a 7 out of 10.

"Drowning Mona" is a frustrating comedy. It has interesting characters and situations and I found myself really enjoying the film--only to have it all fizzle at the end. And, with such an unsatisfying ending and its inability to capitalize on a potentially funny situation, it's a film that you probably shouldn't rush to see on DVD.

This film is very unusual in that one of the main characters of the film, Mona (Bette Midler) is killed in the first few minutes of the movie. The car she's driving has been sabotaged and the vehicle goes careening into the river. The head of the local police, Chief Rash (Danny DeVito), investigates the case and soon learns that the brakes were tampered with in multiple ways--as if someone REALLY wanted to make sure she was dead. And so, through a series of interviews and flashbacks, you learn who did this as well as what a thoroughly awful and hateful person Mona was.

The film gets high marks for setting the right stage for a comedy. Mona is so awful I kept thinking that EVERYONE in town was in on the murder---sort of like in "Murder on the Orient Express". But t just didn't capitalize on the comedy gold that seemed to be awaiting the viewer. Funny people, a funny idea and then...nothing.

By the way, I noticed that a lot of reviewers didn't like how dark the tone was of the film. I actually liked that a lot--I just didn't think they were able to capitalize on this properly--hence my score of 6--which indicates it's mildly amusing and watchable but nothing more.

Drowning Mona is now a cult favorite of mine. The script is unusual yet amazingly funny. Every time I watch this movie, my understanding of its comedic genius grows. Especially for English language buffs, this film's edgy and blatant use of word order and delivery are what make it so hilarious. No line is extraneous or meaningless--they all add up to one hell of a funny film. I'd recommend this to serious movie goers who enjoy an intellectual thrill, a script that puts faith in the audience's ability to understand and not be told outright. If you crave a change from the typical Hollywood Blockbuster formula of drugs, sex, violence, and sentimental life lessons, watch this film. It still manages to deliver action and comedy--but are you smart enough to watch it?

I enjoyed this film a fair amount. It definitely wasn't great but I did keep laughing. Lots of funny bits, that made me laugh out loud. Yes, this could have been better but I'm not exactly sure how. Perhaps the pacing was a bit off, that's what comes to mind. I think it's worth watching if you're interested in a quirky movie. Not as good as, but along the lines of Fargo.

7/10