After
viewing the trailer for this new comedy, I thought it looked quite amusing. It
also features comical heavyweights Danny DeVito and Bette Midler, who also joined
forces for Ruthless People back in the 80's. Alas, Drowning Mona is yet another
trip into the realm of implausible, unfunny comedies.
Midler
plays Mona, the town bitch, who meets her demise when her Yugo's brakes fail,
sending her over a cliff and into the ocean. Through a series of flashbacks, it
is discovered that nearly every resident in the town had a motive for killing
her.
Drowning
Mona has some winning performances most notably the underrated Michael Fichtner
(Go and Armageddon) as Mona's dimwitted husband, and the under used Will Farrell
(Saturday Night Live) as the town mortician. Neve Campbell (Scream), Casey Affleck
(Good Will Hunting), and Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween) are also along for the ride
but none of them really get a chance to shine because this is such an ill conceived
and poorly executed comedy. It tries to be quirky and offbeat, but mostly, it's
just dull.
The
reason this film doesn't work is because of a lousy sense of timing, and in comedy,
timing is everything. Drowning Mona made me laugh twice and that's not nearly
enough to keep you from looking at your watch.
