Drowning Mona
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''Drowning Mona'' is a 2000 American
crime comedy film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...
starring
Danny DeVito Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series ''Taxi'' (1978–1983), which won him a Gold ...
as Wyatt Rash, a local police chief from
Verplanck, New York Verplanck is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Cortlandt, Westchester County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,729. Both the hamlet and Verplanck's Point derive their name from the a ...
, who investigates the mysterious death of Mona Dearly (
Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...
), a spiteful, hard-drinking, loud-mouthed, abusive woman, hated by all who knew her, who drove her son's car off a cliff and drowned in a river. The film received negative reviews from critics.


Plot

Mona Dearly can't unlock her car so, as her keys fit her son's
Yugo The Yugo (), also marketed as the Zastava Koral (, sr-Cyrl, Застава Корал) and Yugo Koral, is a subcompact car, subcompact hatchback formerly manufactured by Zastava Automobiles, at the time a Yugoslavia, Yugoslav corporation. ...
, she takes that and drives off. On a bend, the brakes fail completely and she drives off a cliff into the
Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...
. Clarence, fishing in the river, sees it happen. Chief Wyatt Rash observes there are no skid marks on the road. Her long-suffering husband Phil and son Jeph, show no grief when learning of Mona's death, an abusive, belligerent heavy drinker, loved by none. (Jeph is more concerned about his car.) Ellie Rash (Wyatt's daughter) wants to celebrate as the Dearlys treated Bobby (her fiancé and Jeph's business partner) badly. JB Landscaping is not doing well due to Jeph's laziness and poor behavior. Phil and Rona, who are having an affair, meet at the Charm Motel. He expresses happiness about Mona's death but denies involvement. Bobby meets Murph, his older brother, who has been helping him financially. Murpf suspects he had a hand in Mona's death. Wyatt's investigation takes him to Jeph, who claims that Bobby threatened and attacked Mona. Lucinda, the local mechanic specializing in Yugos (driven by everyone in town) informs Wyatt that the car Mona was driving had been tampered with in multiple ways. Phil tells Wyatt he had been a battered husband, as Mona suspected he was having an affair. He also claims Jeph and Mona had had an argument on the evening before the accident. Bobby tells Wyatt he hated Mona and that they had had an argument over Jeph's pay. She would not let him dissolve the partnership unless Bobby bought them out. Phil and Jeph leave Mona's wake very early. Meanwhile, Wyatt breaks into the Dearlys', finding that Mona's and Jeph's car keys had been switched. Phil expresses his gratitude to Bobby for killing Mona. Bobby then confesses to Ellie that he rigged Jeph's car, as Jeph was destroying their business. She then announces she is pregnant. Clarence overhears their conversation. Phil tells Wyatt he spotted Bobby near the Dearly residence on the night before the accident, claiming that he did not say this earlier because Wyatt and Bobby wil soon be family. Jeph, who is ''also'' involved with Rona, finds out about Phil's affair with her. Bobby tells Wyatt that Mona threatened him, not the other way around, and that he was in the Hideaway the evening before the accident, which Valerie tells him is not true. Murph later tries to cover Bobby on this. Valerie also gives him a sharp gardening tool with the letters "JB" on it. Phil is found dead in a pond at the Charm Motel. Murph tells Ellie, who fears that Bobby, who left their house that night, did it. When Rona finds out, she tries to leave town. It turns out Jeph did not help Phil when he fell into the water after he threatened to expose him, Rona, and Bobby. Police learn that Jeph is threatening suicide because of Rona's leaving. He reveals that a drunken Mona had unrepentantly chopped off his hand when they fought over a bottle of beer. He also states that Phil was not his biological father, adding that, despite all that, he did not kill either of them. Wyatt manages to take the gun away from Jeph. Wyatt then tells Bobby privately that Clarence confessed to killing Phil, because he could not stand the idea of Bobby going to jail with the baby on the way. Clarence was watching Phil – who had seen Bobby rig the car – tampering with it some more and then switching the keys in the house. Bobby's initial tampering had been superficial and did not contribute to the accident, whereas Phil's did. Wyatt promises Bobby to keep quiet about Bobby's involvement as long as he takes good care of Ellie and the baby. Finally, Bobby and Ellie get married and Clarence gets taken away.


Cast

*
Danny DeVito Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series ''Taxi'' (1978–1983), which won him a Gold ...
as Chief Wyatt Rash *
Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...
as Mona Dearly *
Neve Campbell Neve Adrianne Campbell (born October 3, 1973; ) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her work in the drama and horror genres. She has appeared on ''People'' magazine's list of "50 Most Beautiful People" twice. Following a series of minor ...
as Ellen "Ellie" Rash *
Jamie Lee Curtis Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress, producer, children's author, and activist. She came to prominence with her portrayal of Lt. Barbara Duran on the ABC sitcom '' Operation Petticoat'' (1977–78). In 1978, she m ...
as Rona Mace *
Casey Affleck Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt (born August 12, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Satellite Award. He beg ...
as Bobby Calzone *
William Fichtner William Edward Fichtner (born November 27, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles as Sheriff Tom Underlay on ''Invasion'', Alexander Mahone on ''Prison Break'', Carl Hickman on '' Crossing Lines'', and Adam Janikowski o ...
as Phil Dearly * Marcus Thomas as Jeph Dearly *
Peter Dobson Peter Dobson (born July 19, 1964) is an American actor. His film roles include appearances in '' Sing'' (1989), ''Last Exit to Brooklyn'' (1989), ''The Marrying Man'' (1991), ''The Frighteners'' (1996), and ''Drowning Mona'' (2000), in addition t ...
as Lt. Feege Gruber *
Kathleen Wilhoite Kathleen Wilhoite (born June 29, 1964) is an American actress and musician. She made her feature film debut in ''Private School'' (1983) before having a leading role in '' Murphy's Law'' (1986), followed by supporting parts in '' Witchboard'' (a ...
as Lucinda *
Mark Pellegrino Mark Ross Pellegrino (born April 9, 1965) is an American actor of film and television. He is best known for his work as Lucifer in ''Supernatural'', Paul Bennett in '' Dexter'', Jacob in ''Lost'', James Bishop in '' Being Human'', Clayton Haas ...
as Murph Calzone *
Tracey Walter Tracey Walter (born November 25, 1947) is an American character actor. He has appeared in more than 170 films and television series. Life and career Walter was born and grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey, as the son of a truck driver. He has a s ...
as Clarence *
Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 200 ...
as Cubby, the Funeral Director *
Paul Ben-Victor Paul Ben-Victor (born July 24, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Greek mobster Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos on the HBO drama series ''The Wire'', Alan Gray in ''Entourage'' (2005–2008), and Ray in '' Body Parts'' (1991). ...
as Deputy Tony Carlucci *
Paul Schulze Paul Schulze (born June 12, 1962) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in ''The Sopranos'', ''Nurse Jackie'', '' 24'' (2002–2004), and '' The Punisher'' (2017), and his films roles in ''Panic Room'' (2002), and ''Rambo'' (2008). C ...
as Deputy Jimmy D. *
Melissa McCarthy Melissa Ann McCarthy (born August 26, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, producer, writer, and fashion designer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and nominations for two Academy Awards and tw ...
as Shirley *
Brian Doyle-Murray Brian Murray (born October 31, 1945), known professionally by his stage name as Brian Doyle-Murray, is an American actor, voice-actor and screenwriter. He has appeared with his younger brother, actor/comedian Bill Murray, in several movies, i ...
as Tow Truck Driver *
Raymond O'Connor Raymond O'Connor (born September 13, 1952) is an American character actor. Career Raymond O'Connor has been in a number of films, some small roles and some large roles as well. His first role was in the 1985 mini series '' Kane & Abel''. O'C ...
as Father Tom *
Lisa Rieffel Lisa Rieffel (born January 12, 1975) is an American actress and singer. Life and career Rieffel was born in Denville, New Jersey. As a child, she starred on Broadway and at The Kennedy Center in '' Raggedy Ann: The Musical Adventure''. She is ...
as Valerie Antonelli


Reception

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has a rating of 29% based on 76 reviews, and an average rating of 4.41/10. The critical consensus reads, "A whodunnit that stacks its list of suspects with wasted character actors, ''Drowning Mona'' is a twee farce that will prompt audiences to tune out before the mystery is solved."


Box office

The film opened at #4 at the
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
n box office making $5.8 million
USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
in its opening weekend behind ''
My Dog Skip {{Refimprove, date=March 2009 ''My Dog Skip'' is a memoir by Willie Morris published by Random House in 1995. ''My Dog Skip'' is the story about nine-year-old Willie Morris growing up in Yazoo City, Mississippi, a tale of a boy and his dog in ...
'', ''
The Next Best Thing ''The Next Best Thing'' is a 2000 American comedy-drama film directed by John Schlesinger (his final feature film before his death in 2003) about two best friends who have a child together and a custody battle years after. Starring Madonna, Ruper ...
'' and ''
The Whole Nine Yards "The whole nine yards" or "the full nine yards" is a colloquial American English phrase meaning "everything, the whole lot" or, when used as an adjective, "all the way", as in, "The Army came out and gave us the whole nine yards on how they use ...
''. Ultimately, however, the box office gross was an impressive $15.9 million compared with a budget of $6 million.


Awards and nominations


Nominations

*
ALMA Awards The American Latino Media Arts Award or ALMA Award, formerly known as Latin Oscars Award, is an award highlighting the best Hispanic and Latino Americans, American Latino contributions to music, television, and film. The awards promote fair and ...
: Outstanding Director of a Feature Film (Nick Gomez)


References


External links

* * {{Danny DeVito 2000 films 2000 comedy films 2000 black comedy films 2000s English-language films American black comedy films American crime comedy films Films about automobiles Films directed by Nick Gomez Films scored by Michael Tavera 2000s American films Films set in New York (state)