Drowning Mona (2000) User Reviews

It all kind of fizzles at the end...

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 10 March 2014]

"Drowning Mona" is a frustrating comedy. It has interesting characters and situations and I found myself really enjoying the film--only to have it all fizzle at the end. And, with such an unsatisfying ending and its inability to capitalize on a potentially funny situation, it's a film that you probably shouldn't rush to see on DVD.

This film is very unusual in that one of the main characters of the film, Mona (Bette Midler) is killed in the first few minutes of the movie. The car she's driving has been sabotaged and the vehicle goes careening into the river. The head of the local police, Chief Rash (Danny DeVito), investigates the case and soon learns that the brakes were tampered with in multiple ways--as if someone REALLY wanted to make sure she was dead. And so, through a series of interviews and flashbacks, you learn who did this as well as what a thoroughly awful and hateful person Mona was.

The film gets high marks for setting the right stage for a comedy. Mona is so awful I kept thinking that EVERYONE in town was in on the murder---sort of like in "Murder on the Orient Express". But t just didn't capitalize on the comedy gold that seemed to be awaiting the viewer. Funny people, a funny idea and then...nothing.

By the way, I noticed that a lot of reviewers didn't like how dark the tone was of the film. I actually liked that a lot--I just didn't think they were able to capitalize on this properly--hence my score of 6--which indicates it's mildly amusing and watchable but nothing more.

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

[TuckMN · 7/10 · 7 March 2000]

... 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.

Starts out great, peters out half way through. Terrific acting though and (farcical) funny enough for 1 watch.

[imseeg · 6/10 · 31 March 2019]

An obnoxious woman (Bette Midler), who was despised by everyone who knew her, got murdered. Who did it?

The characters in this movie are to die for, because they are truly hilarious. Great acting, by a lot of great actors. But after a great start, the movie slowly peters out.

Funny enough for 1 watch, but when you know the plot, there isnt much else left to be enjoyed. Yes, the jokes are good, but this comedy is a bit TOO dumb and farcical at times. I can only handle that many farcical jokes in a row before I get numb.

For fans of Casey Affleck dont let this chance pass by to see him, because he is truly hilarious as a meek, blonde, dumb looser. Will Ferrel as a funeral employee is hilarious as well.

This film is much better than the actors seem to think....

[Dresscircle19 · 27 July 2003]

Why are people so hard on Drowning Mona? I just saw it and enjoyed it a lot. In years to come I believe it will be seen as the same genre as The Good Girl - an attempt to bring very ordinary people to life without apologizing for their ordinariness. In A Good Girl, Jennifer Aniston works very hard to portray an ordinary, poorly-educated young woman in a dead-end job. She has to really work hard to suppress the natural intelligence of a very bright mind and make her ordinary girl sufficiently dumb. But she does it beautifully. In Drowning Mona - portraying Bobby Calzone, Casey `Affleck has a similar challenge. I think he creates his character brilliantly. I am so shocked to find higher up this page that Casey is ashamed of his work on this movie. Can this be true? It seems quite possible - on my DVD package he is the only major cast-member who doesn't give an interview. Casey is handsome and delightful but he manages to leave an impression of terminal dumbness. All the guy wants is to make a reasonable living fixing gardens, but his problems seem insurmountable and it's getting to him. I get the feeling that none of the cast were stirred or excited with Drowning Mona - you need to see the on-set interviews to judge this. Nevertheless it is a successful little film in its own terms and has a lot of gentle humor in it. Affleck, deVito, Midler, Lee Curtis do a very professional ensemble piece as you would expect. As a former copywriter I find the landscaping company slogan hysterically funny: J & B Landscaping - `Yeah, we can do that'. I get the impression the whole cast read through a rather 'thin' script and said exactly that.

Not Bad, Not great either

[jackattack286 · 7/10 · 9 May 2003]

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.

Highly recommended for "black comedy" junkies .............

[merklekranz · 7/10 · 25 June 2010]

In a town full of "Yugo" cars, and mentally challenged residents, we find fertile ground for a terrific dark comedy. Bette Midler plays Mona, a monstrous woman everybody has a reason to hate. When her Yugo plunges into the lake due to foul play, no one seems to care that she is dead, and everyone is a suspect in "Drowning Mona". William Fichtner absolutely steals this movie, as Mona's "battered husband", who likes to play "Wheel of Fortune" with Jamie Lee Curtis. Meanwhile, Danny DeVito, as the sheriff, has plenty of suspects, including his future son-in law. If you enjoy "black comedies" like "Ruthless People" or "Eating Raoul", this is a must see, and comes highly recommended. - MERK

Drowning and Moaning

[mls4182 · 5/10 · 6 September 2021]

The cast tries but it can't overcome the I'm fully script. Neither can the director. However, its still strangely watchable. Probably because you're waiting for something to finally happen.

The usual suspects...

[stefanhoeffllin · 7/10 · 14 May 2001]

Everybody hated Mona (Bette Midler). Now she´s dead. After a car accident, she drowned in the river. Was it really an accident? Everybody could have a motive. Who was it - and who not? Sheriff Rash (Danny de Vito) investigates.

"Drowning Mona" wasn´t a big box-office hit in the USA. A possible cause why its release in Germany was pushed from date to date. I first feared that it would come out as a video-premiere. More than one year after its release in the USA it finally started in the German theaters. I often read that it is compared with "Ruthless people" - also starring Danny de Vito and Bette Midler. I would rather compare it to the Coen brother´s "Fargo" - in my opinion, a satire about life in the province. Verplanck, USA: a boring, little town of philistine people, where everybody knows each other and talks about each other. I can relate to it, I live in such a town. It´s terrible, most of the time! That´s why this movie kept me laughing all the way through - it was like a therapy for me!

One weak point: sometimes, during the flashbacks, director Nick Gomez loses the storyline out of his hands. Maybe "Drowning Mona" isn´t as cynical as "Fargo", but the fine cast - besides de Vito and Midler; Jamie Lee Curtis and Neve Campbell - can save it from drowning.

A solid black comedy that is good for some big laughs and shortens the waiting time until the next Coen brother´s flick.

More ruthless people.

[Brogan · 5/10 · 7 March 2000]

Everybody hates Mona Dearly, and who could blame them. Mona (Bette Midler) is rude, loud, cruel, and another word for "female dog." Then something happens, Mona dies in a car accident, and town sheriff Wyatt Rash (Danny DeVito) found out that Mona was murdered, and who would kill her. The problem is that there is a long list of suspects. DROWNING MONA is a film that is a good example of the term "black comedy" a film where the viewer would laugh at something that they wouldn't normally laugh at. But unlike some other black comedies (i.e. the most recent IDLE HANDS) this film isn't as cruel and does work. The small town where DROWNING MONA takes place is a intresting town. In the late 1980's, the entire town received test cars from the Yugo car company. And what's funny is that everyone in the town drives a Yugo. Town sheriff Wyatt goes around his town looking for the person who would tamper with the Yugo that Mona was driving, and send her to her watery death. There's Mona's husband, Phil (William Fichtner) who is having a affair with Rona (Jamie Lee Curtis), who is also a suspect. There's Bobby Calzone (Casey Affleck) a young and ambitious young man who is engaged to the sheriff's daughter, Ellen (Neve Campbell). Then there is Bobby's partner in their business, Mona's son, Jeff (Marcus Thomas) who is very dim, and mean. This is a enjoyable film, but it's not the best black comedy of all time. It does work at times, and at other times it fall flat on it's face. There are some very funny scenes involved with Mona's son, Jeff, on how he might have lost his right hand. And the town's loony mortician (Will Ferrel) does have some good scenes, but not enough. The acting from the cast is good though. Danny DeVito is good as the man who is investigating the crime of Mona's death. Jamie Lee Curtis is also good as the woman who could care less about Mona, and move on with her life. Neve Campbell does o.k. with what little role that she has. William Fichtner, Casey Affleck, and Marcus Thomas are all also good, but nothing outstanding. It seems that the person who gets to steal all of the scenes belong to Bette. She does another role that she is good at, a role that is similar to her role in RUTHLESS PEOPLE. But overall, DROWNING MONA isn't as funny or as witty as RUTHLESS, since both films have characters that are rather ruthless. But director Nick Gomez (HBO's THE SOPRANO'S & OZ) does a respectable first time job for a big feature film. MONA isn't great, but it's worth watching at least once. But if you want to see DeVito and Midler act more funnier and vicious, watch RUTHLESS PEOPLE. ***1/2 (out of five)

Not fantastic but a decent quirky comedy

[Morgan-10 · 7/10 · 29 August 2000]

I enjoyed this film a fair amount. It definitely wasn't great but I did keep laughing. Lots of funny bits, that made me laugh out loud. Yes, this could have been better but I'm not exactly sure how. Perhaps the pacing was a bit off, that's what comes to mind. I think it's worth watching if you're interested in a quirky movie. Not as good as, but along the lines of Fargo.

7/10

Wished They'd Drowned Me Instead...

[Aysen08 · 1/10 · 4 December 2004]

Normally, I can find just about ANYTHING that's a saving grace in a movie to have a small soft spot for it. NOT THIS MOVIE! I'm ashamed to say I saw it in the theaters and paid full price for it. I couldn't tell which would feel better...getting my money back or just being shot to make the movie end faster.

The characters are annoying as hell! The plot is one of the stupidest I've ever come across, and normally I like a good "murder mystery". If you could actually call this movie that. I believe that you were supposed to of course hate the character of Mona, played by Bette Midler, but in the long run I couldn't find a single character that I didn't want to kill off myself.

If you're thinking of watching this movie...please, don't. Go get hit by a car, eat shards of glass, or have an intellectual conversation with Paris Hilton. Just please, for the love of all that is holy, DO NOT watch this movie, even a masochist may find it too much torture to handle. Trust me. I'd give it a 0/10, but they don't have a rating THAT low.

Underrated gem...

[lughsaoirseeire · 10/10 · 28 January 2005]

I believe that this movie was panned when it first came out, and I don't know why. It is truly an underrated comedic gem that deserves more recognition. The performances are perfect (with the exception of Campbell) and the dialogue is hysterical.

William Fichtner steals the show as the sleazy "battered husband." His performance is tops in a stellar cast. Marcus Thomas is excellent as his son and lazy landscaping partner to Affleck, who is marvelous as the nervous and long-suffering lead. Will Ferrell puts in a great cameo as a creepy mortician.

Are there flaws? Of course. As another comment mentioned, Tracy Walter's character, Clarence, could have been developed more. Also, some the other characters' run-ins with Mona probably could've been better detailed as well, and the resolution isn't the most satisfying. But this movie is less about the plot and more great characterizations and riotous dialogue.

I own the DVD and I roll with laughter every time I see it, even though I practically have it memorized. This movie should be remembered as

What was that?

[FabF · 6/10 · 7 March 2000]

I was honestly expecting a little more.

It could have been better, but it could have been worse. Bette Midler was -of course- divine, just like in her previous Big Business and Ruthless People. She seems to simply enjoy these wacky characters, people so unpleasant and joyless they end up being funny. As for Danny DeVito, Neve Campbell, Jamie Lee Curtis and all the others, well, they were okay too.

The end was really disappointing, though. Way to conventional. Way to easy. "Bad, bad American folks": was that the message, or did I get it wrong?

But we can't get enough of Mrs. Midler shouting, now can we? Worth renting. Once.

An uninspired moment

[danielll_rs · 1/10 · 22 October 2000]

DROWNING MONA (2000) **

So what we have here? A story about an eccentric and unbearable woman who everyone in the town has a strong desire to kill. One day she dies victim of a sabotage. Everyone becomes a suspect. Everyone is also eccentric. There is a marriage coming up and the police chief must find the killer before that. As you can see, the story is banal, but would be pretty interesting if it had fallen in the hands of the Coen brothers. Unfortunately, it didn't.

I may say at once that DROWNING MONA is not an awful movie. It is pretty bad, but somehow watchable "if you have nothing else to do". However, it could have been much, much better if they had good director and writer to turn the banal story into one delightful film. Nick Gomez (WHO????????????), the director, tries to make something odd and hilarious, but he never gets above the shamefully mediocre.

Oh, well! There is a very decent cast here. I usually don't like Bette Midler's kind of humor, but I can stand her at times. In DROWNING MONA, she is in the screen for not much time, but she repeats everything she uses to do. I said decent cast, didn't I? Neve Campbell was never great, because she always acts the same way, but she is nice and truly convinces. Danny DeVitto is always above the average and he is the best here. Jamie Lee Curtis is keeping on with her failed career (no, we still didn't forget VIRUS); she is surprisingly good here. There are other good supporting actors, but one delivers one of the worst performances of the year: Casey Affleck, Neve's fiancé.

If DROWNING MONA can't be great, it has everything to be an average film. There are some good moments, contrasting to very bad ones. The pacing is uneven, the soundtrack is peculiar not in a great way, the characters are bland but interesting, some situations are funny. It is average, watchable matinee film, right? No, because of the conclusion. It is so bad, so uninteresting, so idiotic, that makes the film even worse. The identity of the killer is so obvious, arbitrary, stupid, that we can't believe. I still thought there would be something else, but there wasn't. If the hits and misses are there, the end threw away all the mystery.

The final result of DROWNING MONA is not very positive. I'm being generous of giving it 2 stars, so maybe some day I change my rating. It went straight to video here in Brazil because of the box office flop in the US. If I had seen it on the movies, it would have been a disastrous experience.

An Unexpected Intellectual Comedy

[mave_dragon · 5 December 2004]

Drowning Mona is now a cult favorite of mine. The script is unusual yet amazingly funny. Every time I watch this movie, my understanding of its comedic genius grows. Especially for English language buffs, this film's edgy and blatant use of word order and delivery are what make it so hilarious. No line is extraneous or meaningless--they all add up to one hell of a funny film. I'd recommend this to serious movie goers who enjoy an intellectual thrill, a script that puts faith in the audience's ability to understand and not be told outright. If you crave a change from the typical Hollywood Blockbuster formula of drugs, sex, violence, and sentimental life lessons, watch this film. It still manages to deliver action and comedy--but are you smart enough to watch it?

Pretty good comedy. Not too bad, but not memorable.

[siamesedreamer53 · 6/10 · 4 March 2000]

Drowning Mona is a good comedy about the death of a woman the whole town hates. This film had its good points, but nothing to make it a memorable comedy. I liked many of the characters and the film had a great cast. Props to Casey Affleck to doing a good job. Overall, if you are looking for a decent comedy, check this one out.

okay movie

[ShortCuteBlonde · 6/10 · 22 September 2002]

this movie wasnt all that great and i agree it was a waste of talent, all of the actors were very talented and they wasted it on this thing some people called a movie, it wasnt funny at all and it was just plain dull, i dont know what else to say except that i wouldnt waste 2 hours of my life on watching it.

Avoid This Town With A Vengeance!

[sataft-2 · 3/10 · 20 August 2000]

This film is a mess!

Imagine that late at night you drive into a small sleepy town and register in it's one motel. In the morning you wake up to the nightmare of where you're at. And for God's sake,whatever you do, don't drink the water, for there must be something in it; just look at the residents.

This film starts out with the death of the town's most hated citizen, Mona Dearly (Bette Midler). The driving question is, not who did it, but who didn't? And it seems the only person who is interested in discovering this fact is the town's sheriff (Danny DeVito,co-producer of this film).

On the surface, it would appear this film is a feeble attempt to put a new twist on the classic Hitchcock black comedy "The Trouble With Harry". If so, it most certainly does not work. The key cause of this failure is that the town's residents are totally unlikeable from every human aspect. In fact, in the end, the only character I found the slightest affinity for was the one arrested as the killer. Now, that has to tell you something.

For example, the young couple so madly in love are a mismatched pair. Not only is he (Casey Affleck) prettier than his girlfriend (Neve Campbell), but he's ten times dumber to boot.

In fact, all of the residents appear to be suffering from the ill affects of the prolonged consumption of water (or beer) polluted by toxic waste. This includes the town's police force (with the exception of the sheriff), all of whom appear to be severely mentally impaired.

As for the family of the murder victim, the husband (William Fichtner) and the son (Marcus Thomas)are poster boys for the cause of benevolent castration ; under no circumstances do you ever want either of them to reproduce.

In short, other than the occasional laugh here and there, a lot of good actors (with special reference to Jamie Lee Curtis, Midler and DeVito) were wasted in pursuit of the script that wasn't. Get out of this town as fast as you can.

Not as bad as you would think!

[K N · 7/10 · 1 August 2000]

From the ratings here on this site, I didn't expect too much seeing it on dvd. However, I had a good time and the movie was quite entertaining. The humor is mostly subtle but intelligent. Casey Affleck is amazing and totally reminded me of his brother Ben in some scenes. Overall, a 7 out of 10.

It Stinks

[2server · 1/10 · 8 May 2001]

For the first time ever, I am giving a score of 1 for this wretched - this truly wretched and awful film. The action is glacial and is a pastiche of silly feedbacks that try to amuse but do not. A terrible waste of comedic talent here. The few moments that Bette Midler and Danny DeVito are allowed to come forth are all too brief. Shame on the producers of this horror and double shame on the people who think this worthless film is good. Those few respondents who mentioned that was the best film that they ever saw need to go more often to the cinema. Enough said - go peel potatoes or something. You have better things to do than waste your time on this.

A dark comedy that falls flat

[Toshiro · 6/10 · 12 August 2000]

This film had potential. There are many name actors who all appear to be having a good time. The premise of the whole town hating Mona Dearly could have worked if Bette Midler had played the part less "over the top" and more sinister. Casey Affleck is seriously miscast and has no chemistry with Neve Campbell who is the best thing in the movie. Danny DeVito (sorry Danny)is just unbelievable as the Sheriff. The whole film has the aura of a project gone bad.

If you're hiring a video, pick up a spare in case you lose the plot!

[tazz-dubai · 2/10 · 27 September 2000]

Despite the fact that I watched it on a flight back from San Francisco, I nearly decided to leave the cinema on this one, not clever at 40,000 feet!

I later saw a promotion for the film back in Dubai saying it was the funniest film since "There's Something About Mary", perhaps if someone had told me it was a comedy I might have considered the option of laughing.

Maybe it's my British sense of humour but the film did nothing for me, interesting since there doesn't appear to be any comments from other Brits!

The one clever trick was that one of the sexiest ladies in show business, yes, Jamie Lee Curtis, looked very undesirable, heaven forbid!

I'm not in the habit of slating films, however it seems ridiculous to compare this to what for me, was one of the funniest films of the 90's. Call me juvenile but "There's Something About Mary", had me almost wetting myself in the cinema!

There were definitely some very talented and funny people in this film alas for me it just didn't work. My advice is "If you're hiring a video, pick up a spare in case you lose the plot!"

I can give it 2/10 for the amazing work on Jamie!

"White trash Murder on the Orient Express"

[mhoney-1 · 9/10 · 22 May 2007]

Maybe Danny DeVito and Bette Midler should collaborate more often. The two times they did it was comedy gold. While this movie is not as flat out hilarious as "Ruthless People," it should still be enjoyed by the same people who love that movie. It starts with a prologue stating how Verplanck, New York was the location where they decided to launch the Yugo line of cars in America. As a result, everyone in town, including the police, drives a Yugo car, and they all have catchy license plates like UGOMONA, ELLEEE, and OH RONE.

As the title suggests, this black little whodunit concerns who opted to rid the small town of Verplanck of its nastiest inhabitant, the matriarchal hag Mona Dearly (Midler, who chews up every inch of the screen in her "Rashomon"-esque flashback scenes). Police Chief Wyatt Rash (Danny DeVito, playing against type as the straight man), is determined to find out, even if nobody else cares to help. It's come at a bad time, because he's trying to help his daughter Ellie (Neve Campbell) plan her big wedding to mild-mannered land-scaper Bobby Calzone (Casey Affleck), who has just ended up short-handed after his beer-guzzling partner Jeff Dearly (Marcus Thomas, the epitome of slackerdom) takes a leave of absence. Bobby also seems unnaturally concerned with the the death of a woman who meant only bad things for him.

The characters, while bordering on cartoons, are played tongue-in-cheek, and you know the actors had fun doing it. There's the chain-smoking waitress Rhona Mace (Jamie Lee Curtis), who's having an affair with the deceased's husband Phil (William Fichtner, who walks away with the movie as a complete scumbag), and Bobby's overbearing brother Murph (Mark Pellegrino). The cops are just as zany, with Peter Coyote as the do-gooder lieutenant, and Paul Ben-Victor and Paul Schulze (Ryan Chapelle from "24") as a couple of bumbling idiots who seem to be good for one thing, looking out for Numbers One. There's Katherine Wilhoite as Lucinda, the lesbian folk-singer mechanic, and the great Tracey Walter is on board as the local fisherman who nobody really knows much about. Add in a foul-mouthed, alcoholic priest, and a funeral director who's also an amateur pornographer (Will Ferrell before he became huge), and it's a feast for those with a twisted sense of humor.

I liked it a lot.

[hpoulter · 7/10 · 15 December 2004]

I don't understand the hostility to this movie. I thought it was an offbeat sleeper full of laugh-out-loud details, really funny dialog and some great (albeit bizarre) performances. Not all of the scenes made it, but overall the movie made me laugh out loud repeatedly (embarassing since I was on the train).

I guess it's just one of those movies that is going to arouse strong feelings. If you have a taste for the unusual, then you might check it out. After all, you may be one us bizarros who really like it.

I notice from the demographics that the movie does best among us old fossils who grew up in the 60's and 70's. Maybe it's the drugs.

I wish I could have drowned myself

[nashvillephotosoul · 2/10 · 16 August 2000]

I can't believe Danny DeVito starred and produced this dull, one dimensional film.

In a cast that includes Casey Affleck, Neve Campbell, William Fichtner, Jamie Lee Curtis and Bette Midler; I expected to see a much better film than I did. For what its worth, "Drowning Mona" did have a few good points. For example, there were scenes that were actually funny.

However, "Drowning Mona" could not stay above water even if a rescue had been asked for. The ending was so cliche that even I could think of a better one. Overall, it is unfunny, with laughable scenes with jokes that stink . This is one film I could have done without.