| | | A Gripping Comedy About Letting Go.
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Dolby, Dolby Digital (5.1)
A critically acclaimed, outrageously offbeat look at growing up! Looking forward to a prestigious summer internship in Washington, D.C., pre-med college student Raymond (Saving Private Ryan's Jeremy Davies) has his dreams put on hold when he's forced to stay at home caring for his invalid mother (Alberta Watson, The Sweet Hereafter, TV's 24). Constantly harassed by his domineering, travelling salesman father, Raymond struggles to deal with his mother's bed-ridden anxieties and his first, stumbling attempts to romance the naive girl next door.
"Outrageous!" David Ansen, Newsweek
"Provocative... highly entertaining!" New York Post
"Shockingly funny!" Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Editor's Note
A black comedy in the truest sense of the term, SPANKING THE MONKEY tells the tale of Ray (Jeremy Davies), a pre-med freshman who must forfeit a summer internship in order to care for his ailing mother (Alberta Watson). The pressure of being stuck at home threatens to overwhelm Ray, and when a night of drinking leads to a physical encounter with his mother, the only escape he can think of is to commit suicide. David O. Russell's film successfully balances comedy with drama, making for an unsettling, yet highly gratifying, viewing experience.
Plot Summary
The debut feature from writer-director David O. Russell tells the darkly comic story of a young pre-med student's nearly unbearable summer vacation. When Ray Aibelli's promiscuous father orders him to stay home for the summer and care for his mother, who recently broke her leg, he misses out on an incredibly important internship. As Ray struggles with the realization that he's wasting his summer doing nothing at home, he must contend with an endless string of seemingly insurmountable circumstances, including a failed brief relationship with a young high school student. Things reach their boiling point when Ray and his mother get drunk one night, leading to an incestuous encounter that pushes him over the edge. Humiliated, depressed, and downtrodden, Ray decides to commit suicide to end his troubles forever.Russell's racy story walks a tightrope between deep psychological drama and taboo comedy, resulting in a highly original tone that keeps SPANKING THE MONKEY from buckling under the pressure. Featuring a standout performance by Davies, as well as Watson, who recalls Anne Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson in THE GRADUATE, this is one of the 1990's most auspicious directorial debuts.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital Mono | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Widescreen Version Enhanced For 16:9 TVs |
| Technical Info
|
Release Information
| | Studio: Image |
| Release Date: 12/6/2005 |
| Running Time: 100 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1994 | | Catalog ID: 1390 LIDVD | | UPC: 00014381139020 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 1.85:1 |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Sundance Film Festival (1994) |  | David O. Russell, Winner, Audience Award | | | David O. Russell, Nominee, Grand Jury Prize |
|
| | Professional Reviews | Rolling Stone
"...Davies gives a poignant, emotive performance that tears at the heart. And Watson is magnificent; seductive and overwhelming without losing her character's human scale..." 07/14/1994 p.98New York Times
"...An unexpected crowd-pleaser....Davies gives an especially deft performance....[Russell] has set himself up as a director able to tackle anything..." 07/15/1994 p.C5 Entertainment Weekly
"...Affecting and provocative....[Davies's performance] is the key to what makes this audacious story work..." -- Rating: B 08/19/1994 p.40 Los Angeles Times
"...Russell has an adept visual sense but what really distinguishes SPANKING THE MONKEY is the acting..." 07/28/1994 p.F2 Chicago Sun-Times
"...The performances are all terrific....Davies is likably natural and sympathetic....Watson and Hendrickson are wonderfully subtle..." 07/22/1994 p.43 Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "Russell captures that particular mid-youth paralysis brilliantly..." 07/01/2007 p.135 Sight and Sound
"[Russell's] most intimate, touching and personal work, boosted by frank, nuanced performances from the two leads 09/01/2007 p.87 James Berardinelli's ReelViews 7 of 10
Spanking the Monkey is a diabolically dark comedy complete with an insight or two into human nature keen enough to cause a little discomfort. Director David O. Russell has set up his world as a "normal" suburban community, then caused all sorts of bizarre things to happen. While circumstances aren't taken to David Lynch extremes, one has a sense that the director of Blue Velvet would appreciate what Russell has done with his canvas here. - James Berardinelli
|
| |
|
|
|
