Drowning Mona (2000)

When a woman drives a car into the river to her death, everyone in town becomes a suspect.

Director:

Nick Gomez

Writer:

Peter Steinfeld

Stars:

Danny DeVito, Bette Midler, Neve Campbell

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Danny DeVito	...	Chief Wyatt Rash
Bette Midler	...	Mona Dearly
Neve Campbell	...	Ellen Rash
Jamie Lee Curtis	...	Rona Mace
Casey Affleck	...	Bobby Calzone
William Fichtner	...	Phil Dearly
Marcus Thomas	...	Jeff Dearly
Peter Dobson	...	Lt. Feege Gruber
Kathleen Wilhoite	...	Lucinda
Tracey Walter	...	Clarence
Will Ferrell	...	Cubby the Funeral Director
Paul Ben-Victor	...	Deputy Tony Carlucci
Paul Schulze	...	Deputy Jimmy D.
Mark Pellegrino	...	Murph Calzone
Raymond O'Connor	...	Father Tom Stowick

Storyline

Mona Dearly, a spiteful, loud-mouthed, unpopular woman dies when the car she is driving in plunges off a cliff and into a river near the small upstate New York town where she lives. Wyatt Rash, the local police chief, investivates and suspects foul play in Mona's death and tries to contain the whole town whom all are suspects who include Wyatt's daughter Ellen, who is going to marry landscape artist Bobby Calzone whose business was suffering from his lazy business partner, Jeff, Mona's slow-witted son, as well as waitress Rona Mace, who was having an affair with Mona's husband.

---

Plot Keywords:

suspect | yugo | overalls | drowning | car accident | 

---

Taglines:

1 murder. 460 prime suspects. Not so much of a 'who done it' as a 'who didn't'.

---

Genres:

Crime | Mystery | Comedy

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements, language and brief sexuality

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 March 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Qui a tué Mona?

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$5,802,229 (USA) (3 March 2000)

Gross:

$15,427,192 (USA) (7 April 2000)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Code Entertainment, Jersey Shore, Marigold Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rona Mace, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, is an anagram for "A Romance"

---

Goofs

When Jeff's in the graveyard threatening to commit suicide, you hear him cock the pistol but when he brings the gun up to his head the hammer isn't pulled back.

---

Quotes

Bobby Kalzone: It's been different since Jeff killed Peaches.
Wyatt Rash: Jeff killed Peaches? I thought it was the other way around.
Bobby Kalzone: Peaches killed Jeff?

---

Connections

References Auntie Mame (1958)

---

Soundtracks

"Papa's Got a Brand New Pig Bag"
Written by Simon Underwood, Andrew Carpenter, James Johnstone, Oliver Moore, Christopher Lee,
Rodger Freeman and Christopher Hamlin
Performed by Pigbag
Courtesy of Castle Music Ltd.

User Reviews

Imagine a town where everyone drives a Yugo....

... 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.