Death to Smoochy / YMMV

Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Sheldon's stepdad song just another earnest message he's trying to send to kids, or does he have a Freudian Excuse to teach that particular one?
Broken Base: Many people were disappointed that the movie wasn't much darker, and more in the vein of DeVito's earlier The War of the Roses with two equally unlikable characters going after each other. Others however found it refreshing that one of the main characters was actually really nice and rarely if at all mean.
Common Knowledge: This movie is often mentioned as a textbook example of the often sadistic "anti-Barney humor" that was rampant in the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, unlike most of those contemporary Barney parodies, Sheldon/Smoochy is a sympathetic character the audience is meant to like as opposed to a subject of brutal mockery.
Cult Classic: Despite its reputation, it does have a small, but passionate fanbase, and it has been recognized as a cult film.
Fridge Brilliance: The use of Pietro Mascagni‘a “Cavalleria rusticana: Intermezzo” as Moochy goes to heaven in the ice show makes sense: its most famous use is as the theme from Raging Bull, a film about a pro boxer, which is what Spinner was.
Harsher in Hindsight: Randolph's emotional breakdowns and attempted suicide have very much lost their humor in light of Robin Williams' actual suicide in 2014.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- The comments about gluten-free buns.
- With the release of Jumanji: The Next Level, Danny DeVito has become the second actor from this movie to be the part of the Jumanji franchise after Robin Williams, who played Alan Parrish in the first film Jumanji.
Iron Woobie: Sheldon Mopes. Sheldon can get annoying at times but really all he wants, all he wants, is to make a nice, fun, positive show that kids can enjoy. And yet he keeps getting crapped on for not wanting the money, not wanting to commercialize Smoochy, and not wanting to encourage kids eating stuff like cookies, hot dogs, etc. It just breaks your heart seeing his dream getting constantly sabotaged by corporate greed, mobsters, and a bitter, psychotic, jealous, ex-kids show host who really didn't deserve his fame to begin with. And yet despite all those setbacks, he never truly gives up who he is or his ethics throughout the entire movie. Sheldon does come pretty close to being as crazy as Randolph, when he hunts down the men responsible for his attempted murder. The "H-A-L-T" speech he gives Nora and the talk about Rickets the Hippo seems to imply that he had some pretty severe anger management issues at one point.
Jerkass Woobie: Randolph. He's vulgar, psychopathic and, in his own words, "fucked up", but all he needs is a hug and some love. Especially at the end when he is talking to Sheldon and Nora, trying to sing something to the tune of "Old Macdonald" only to break down sobbing at the end.
Magnificent Bitch: Tommy Cotter is the leader of the local Irish mobster gang, who quickly establishes herself as not nearly as bad as she seems. Running a profitable restaurant for all patrons, Tommy threatens the kindhearted kids' show host Sheldon Mopes into allowing her challenged brother to start on his show, and takes Sheldon's acceptance of the blackmail as a genuine favor to her family, promising to be his ally in return. Tommy goes about clearing Sheldon's name following a frame-up and eliminating the Parade of Hope gangsters who are threatening him, and after her brother is slain by the machinations of Burke Bennett, Tommy helps Sheldon take him down, prevents Sheldon from staining his good heart with Burke's blood, then personally eliminates Burke herself to tie up loose ends.
Narm Charm: While it might seem patently ridiculous on the surface to cast Harvey Fierstein, known primarily for playing Camp Gay comic relief characters as a murderous and unrepentantly corrupt mob boss, Harvey makes it work by means of total commitment to the part and also a healthy serving of ham which, along with his trademark raspy voice, manages to create a decidedly intimidating villain.
Questionable Casting: It takes a weird sensibility to cast Harvey Fierstein, an openly gay actor known for playing flamboyant comic-relief characters, as a murderous and unrepentantly evil gangster. He still manages to make it work though.
Tear Jerker:
- Spinner's death. Smoochy later dedicates his ice show to Spinner, ringing his Smoochy's Magical Jungle character's cowbell to start the show, and including a sequence that has Smoochy say goodbye to Moochy (Spinner's other character).
- The ice show where Smoochy shows all the bad things that has happened to him from Executive Meddling, Neo-Nazis, etc.
- When Smoochy talks to the kids about "howling" their inner pain away, his own howl is more comparable to an anguished wail.
Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Why the film initially failed. A lot of critics didn't like how almost every character was either a cynical jerkass or an outright criminal, not to mention how the plot itself seemed to be capitalizing on the proto-edgelord "anti-Barney humor" of the late 90s/early 2000s (ironic, as the Barney-analogue is played positively here and his haters are the ones portrayed in the wrong).
What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Robin Williams and a cute Barney-like character must mean the film is for kids, right? Never mind the fact it has 'death' right in the title, the R rating, and that some posters showed the Barney-Expy in a body bag. Danny DeVito notes in the commentary that he might have set a record for the most little kids in an R-rated movie.
The Woobie: Spinner. You just want to give him a big hug when Smoochy was accused of being a Nazi.

YMMV / Death to Smoochy

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