Spanking the Monkey (1994)

a trip out movie

one night a few weeks back this film came on cable and I thought I gotta check this film out. and talk about dysfunctional? the Mother and Son was more twisted than what you see on Jerry Springer,but yet it draws you in.very cleaver written and directed and the pacing as well. August 25, 2008

And I thought this type of thing only happened in rural Mississippi.

I decided to write this review in the form of a horribly constructed poem. Here goes.

Raymond is forced to stay at home for the summer
Wanting an internship instead, he considers this a bummer
His mother's hurt, and needs his help, and drives young Raymond crazy
He's forced to take care of her, or else she calls him lazy
Then one day while putting ointment on her leg
Raymond feels a bizarre feeling rising within his southern hedge
The rest, my friends, will leave you shocked, when at last you see
That Raymond's got the hots for mom, and yes, his mother biologically


(take that Walt Whitman)

This film is completely absurd and I cannot recommend it. That doesn't mean I haven't watched it sixteen times in the last year alone on IFC, however.

May 30, 2008

Not for all tastes, but a good film nonetheless

After being forced to give up a prestigious internship in order to "babysit" his mother, who has a broken leg, a teenager finds himself falling in love with his mother.

Much like "Happiness", a black comedy about a pedophile, "Spanking the Monkey" is the sort of film that will not appeal to everyone. This film is billed as a black comedy, and I suppose it is, in retrospect, but I didn't feel like I was watching a comedy when I was watching it. What this film is, is a truly amazing character study of a suburban family that contains some laughs but also realizes that a lot of what it's dealing with just shouldn't be laughed at. Writer/director David O. Russell ("Three Kings", "I Heart Huckabees") takes a subject that most people wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole, that is, incest, and explains how it could happen and the consequences if it does happen. The result is a film that feels completely believable and that is also completely compelling.

This is an intelligent film that doesn't provide the audience with easy answers. In fact, a lot of questions that this film raises are left unanswered at the end, like, for example, who did initiate the relationship in the first place, Raymond or his mother? It is also a very restrained film, and all the better for it. Don't expect to see any sex scenes between a 19 year old and a 40 year old. Everything is left to the audience's imagination.

Not being a big David O. Russell fan (I didn't like "Flirting With Disaster" or "I Heart Huckabees"), I almost didn't bother with this film (I only saw it because I bought it as party of a triple pack with two other films that I did want) but I am so glad that I did as this is one of the most incredible films that I have seen in my entire life. If you can get past the initial concept, I highly recommend that you see this film.
May 20, 2008

Brave work!

This movie is the first time I have seen mother-son incest portrayed so accurately.

Different from fathers who abuse their children sexually, mother's do so in more covert ways making the child feel they are the perpetrator. The mother in this movie was covert in that she would quietly initiate her son to behave in sexual ways and when he would it would look like it was what "he" wanted when, in truth, it was what "she" wanted.

No son ever wants to have sex with his mother. And even if he has the fantasy the mother should stop it and never engage it. These type of mothers are very sick and unfortunately I see the results of what they to in the therapy room amongst my male clients.

The wreckless behavior he begins to engage in is so common among the men sexually abused by their mothers.

Anyone watching this film should remember that even though it was the son who appears to be initiating the sexual contact with his mother, it is "her" that is grooming him to do so. She is the perpetrator--not the son! Ever! December 24, 2007

One unexpected reaction by one character and I'd have liked it. Really.

Spanking the Monkey (David O. Russell, 1994)

Spanking the Monkey is a movie that wants to be deep. Russell, it seems, wants to offer some sort of incisive criticism on suburbia wrapped in a weird coming-of-age tale; the problem is that neither branch off this distended stump produces enough of substance to be taken seriously.

Our hero, Ray (Rescue Dawn's Jeremy Davies), is a medical student poised to begin a summer internship. Unfortunately, his plans are interrupted when his mother Susan (Alberta Watson, probably best-known these days for a stint on 24) breaks her leg, and Ray is conscripted into caretaking while his insufferable father (Benjamin Hendrickson of As the World Turns) is away on business. Ray comes home, hooks up with his old drug pals (one of whom is rising star Zak Orth in his first screen appearance), and finds himself smitten with Toni (Superbad's Carla Peck), a high school student from the neighborhood. All of which seems as if it wants to go somewhere. That's all well and good; the problem is that each thread's destination is entirely independent of the destination of the others. That works fine in real life, but this is the movies. There has to be some sort of structure, some defining factor that makes it all come together in some way. Ray isn't a strong enough character to be the linchpin for all this, but that is the role Russell thrusts upon him. Any one of these plots might have made a good movie; twisting two together would have worked well enough. But all combined required either a much stronger script, a much longer movie, or both; no one plot gets enough face time here to assert itself, so we end up with the last scene, which is both completely unbelievable and the only way things could have really worked out. If you've painted yourself into that kind of corner, you should probably consider reworking your script. * ½, because Russell at least attempted some serious transgression here (even if he ended up having his characters react in textbook manner to all of them).
July 10, 2007

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