Spanking the Monkey

adorably '90s, by which i mean it whisked me back to a more earnest era when a film like THIS might actually have seemed provocative. kind of damning a silly, overfamiliar little thing with faint praise, but there you go. certainly russell has nothing new or interesting on his mind here, which could be a handy explanation for why he subsequently developed such a loud style.

Just as some smaller films, I swear, only managed to get a distributor because of the naked babes therein, I think this one only received any attention because of its naughty subject matter... which isn't handled in a particularly insightful, clever, or funny manner. At least John Waters would have made an impression with this kind of movie, even if only a very bad one. An inauspicious beginning to a thoroughly unremarkable directorial career

Hits on some larger truths about fucked family dynamics but is thoroughly unconvincing in the details (dammit stupid dog won't lemme jack it which I am doing at an improbably high volume on the toilet in the middle of the day even tho' the only person who can interrupt me can't get out of bed). The mixture of self-flattery and self-loathing is fitting for an incest fantasy but nothing's actually explored and it's all sunk by an insipid sitcom sensibility and near-total ignorance of aesthetics.

I'll give David O. Russell this, all the glaring mediocrity i've come to expect from him was already pretty much fully-realized from the opening moments of his first film: indifferent, sloppy filmmaking with practically no visual sense parading as low-key "naturalism", smug and condescending characterization that here comes across almost as mean-spirited as Todd Solondz with about half the laughs, or at best Baumbach or Perry without any of their insight or wit.

I thought it was about jerking off but it's actually about incest.

I suppose the whole incest with hot mum can sort of seem funny, but despite this being a funny comedy movie, it still takes the conceit down a rather depressing, but humanising path. First by showing the mutual care and sacrifice between mother and son, which is touching, though soon devolves into the incest (sexy!), before taking it to a logical conclusion of intense self-hatred. Plenty of heart, with plenty of laughs alongside it, particularly the amusingly written friends of Raymond.

A Mostly good debut film from David O. Russell. The screenplay can be a little sloppy in parts, and he's not afraid to tackle some taboo subject matter. That said, Jeremy Davies puts in a very strong performance, and Russell did a great job directing. Overall I liked it. I'm just not sure who the target audience is. I guess fans of Russell should take a flyer, but everyone else should feel fine skipping this.

Watson and Davies deserve some credit here. Both are pretty good and do their best with typically unpleasant O.Russell characters. There's little to admire in terms of the screenplay and photography, or indeed the odd premise. This reeks of being a David O. Russell picture; where quite clearly he's striving for a particular atheistic and mood (in this case an attempt at a wry, dark comedy) but as always he's trying way too hard and produces irritatingly vacuous mediocrity.

Memorable because of its disturbing subject matter and its contenders for worst on screen parents.

73.33.

The strong mothers that are at the center of Russell's Flirting with disaster, in a ride about wicked families, and The fighter, as an sickening representation of power and influence, find their most courageous core in this risky first film. Before the taboo is broken, there is a shot that shows what looks like this young man's mother having sex -- but latter we see it's just an act of help. A freudian coming-of-age/family comedy about incest, suicide -- and also about coming out from the womb.

A few moments that show what Russell would become in the future, but other than that, it's pretty mediocre.

I think I would have liked it more when I was younger. While it takes things to some bizarre extremes the conflicted emotions feel honest and raw enough to overcome that and ground Davies' character. The dark humour is also pretty good and a reminder of why I look forward to more from David O. Russell. I'd also like it more with less unlikeable side characters but they do provide some cathartic moments.

a kid comes home from school to take of his bed ridden mom..and soon things get out of hands and the two have sex..and things change...this movie is dark..dark comedy...very good script and great work by all the actors..this movie is just a glorified incest coming of age comedy

If this movie wasn't trying so hard to be dramatic then I wouldn't be so hard on it. Just a ridiculous premise that shouldn't have taken itself so seriously. Only a douche bag like David O. Russell would make something like this. Also features two of the most un-redeemable characters in film history. Waste of time.

Simultaneously provocative and boring.

"Spanking the Monkey" is the warmest family comedy to grace the screen since "Jade."

A different movie with a great performance of Jeremy Davies and Carla Gallo.

this is so terribly overlooked. i blame the stupid title.