Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. The film currently holds a rating of 42% on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes. J. Hoberman of The Village Voice praised the film, stating that "Death to Smoochy is often very funny, but what's even more remarkable is the integrity of DeVito's misanthropic vision."
Though it received a wide release, playing in some 2,164 theaters its opening weekend in the United States, the film was a box office disaster, grossing $4,266,463 its opening weekend, and a mere $8,382,691 overall, with negligible foreign box office receipts. Considering it had a production budget of some $50 million, Death to Smoochy was a financial flop. Danny DeVito begins the DVD audio commentary with the lines "Hello. It's Danny. It's been, um... I guess now a few months since the release of Death to Smoochy, so the mourning period is over."
Robin Williams earned a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actor for his performance in the movie, but lost out to Hayden Christensen for Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
Despite being such a financial flop, the film has developed a reasonably strong cult following, many referring to it as a work of "demented genius."
Read more about this topic: Death To Smoochy
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