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.

In a town full of "Yugo" cars, and mentally challenged residents, we find fertile ground for a terrific dark comedy. Bette Midler plays Mona, a monstrous woman everybody has a reason to hate. When her Yugo plunges into the lake due to foul play, no one seems to care that she is dead, and everyone is a suspect in "Drowning Mona". William Fichtner absolutely steals this movie, as Mona's "battered husband", who likes to play "Wheel of Fortune" with Jamie Lee Curtis. Meanwhile, Danny DeVito, as the sheriff, has plenty of suspects, including his future son-in law. If you enjoy "black comedies" like "Ruthless People" or "Eating Raoul", this is a must see, and comes highly recommended. - MERK

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

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?

... even the police.

Bette Midler, even though she is the title character, gets second billing to Danny DeVito.

In the recently released "Isn't She Great" she gets to play both sides of the ugly/beautiful coin and she does it here again brilliantly.

Sherriff Wyatt Rash (DeVito) has too many suspects in the death of Mona. Everyone would like to see her dead.

Neve Campbell as his daughter (Ellen) turns in a fine performance. Her breakdown and ultimate (short-lived) lesbian experience with the town's mechanic is either over-the-top -- or just short of being brilliant; hard to tell.

Casey Affleck (Ben's little brother) is very one-note -- I want to believe that it was written that way and that Bobby is not as shallow as the script would have us believe.

This is not a film that will appeal to everyone -- but hang in -- it only gets better as it goes along.

I enjoyed it -- and as I reflect on it -- it only gets better.