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 Rash
Bette Midler	...	Mona Dearly
Neve Campbell	...	Ellen
Jamie Lee Curtis	...	Rona
Casey Affleck	...	Bobby
William Fichtner	...	Phil Dearly
Marcus Thomas	...	Jeff Dearly
Peter Dobson	...	Feege
Kathleen Wilhoite	...	Lucinda
Tracey Walter	...	Clarence
Will Ferrell	...	Cubby
Paul Ben-Victor	...	Carlucci
Paul Schulze	...	Jimmy D.
Mark Pellegrino	...	Murph
Raymond O'Connor	...	Father Tom

Storyline

Mona Dearly, a spiteful, loud-mouthed, unpopular woman, dies when the car she is driving plunges off a cliff and into a river near the small upstate New York town where she lives. Wyatt Rash, the local police chief, investigates and suspects foul play in Mona's death. The whole town is suspect, including Wyatt's daughter Ellen, who is about to marry landscape artist Bobby Calzone, whose business suffers 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:

drowning | suspect | waitress | crying woman | lawn mower | 

---

Taglines:

Who wanted to see Mona Dearly dead? Take a number.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery

---

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:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,802,229, 5 March 2000

Gross USA:

$15,427,192

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$747,934

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

Casey Affleck has gone on record saying that both this film and Soul Survivors (2001) were his two least favorite films that he has worked on.

---

Goofs

When Ellen leaves the gas station after hearing what happened to Phil, her gas cap is on top of her car. When she stops the car in the next scene, the gas cap is back in place.

---

Quotes

Jeff: [while threatening to kill himself] I know you all think I killed my parents.
Chief Wyatt Rash: We don't think you killed anybody!
Jeff: Yeah? Well, you're full of shit! Everyone know I've been wanting to get back at her ever since that night...
[a flashback shows Mona cleaving a sausage]
Jeff: Hey, Ma, there's no more beer. Give me some of yours.
Mona Dearly: Don't touch that beer, Jeff.
Jeff: [reaches out] Oh, give it to me.
Mona Dearly: I SAID...
[cleaves his hand clean off]
Jeff: [screams in pain] FUCK!
[...]

---

Connections

Spoofs An Innocent Man (1989)

---

Soundtracks

Sky High
Written by Robby Baier and Roberto C. Sweet Jr.
Courtesy of Barbara L. Jordan / Heavy Hitters

User Reviews

Not Bad, Not great either

Drowning Mona is a hard movie to describe. On the one hand, I liked it because, the cast seemed to be doing the best with what the script they had to work with. On the other hand, the plot seemed choppy and the dialogue was for the most part pretty stale. Will Ferrell absolutely steals the movie with his part as the creepy funeral director who laughs inappropiately, has trouble with the right way to make eye contact, and is constantly having sexual trysts during the viewing. If you're looking for an offbeat comedy, give this a try. But don't rush out and kill yourself to see it.