Drowning Mona
Tags: dark, comedy, flashback

Plot synopsis:
The film's first scene shows Mona Dearly (Bette Midler) leaving her home and trying in vain to unlock her car. Her keys fit her son's car, so she takes that and drives off. In a bend, the brakes fail completely and she drives off a cliff into the Hudson River. This is observed by Clarence, who is fishing there. Chief Wyatt Rash (Danny DeVito) later observes that there are no skid marks on the road.
Neither her husband Phil (William Fichtner) nor Jeph (her son) seem upset when they hear about Mona's death and they are not the only ones. Ellie (Wyatt's daughter) even wants to celebrate, because she feels the Dearlys have always treated Bobby (her fiance and Jeph's business partner) very badly. JB Landscaping is not doing well because of Jeph's laziness and lack of right hand and because Bobby is not very competent either. Bobby denies that he still wants to fire Jeph and that he has a problem with the Dearlys.
Phil and Rona (Jamie Lee Curtis), who are having an affair, meet at the Charm Motel. Phil expresses his happiness about Mona's death but denies involvement. Bobby meets Murph, his older brother, and denies that he has had a hand in Mona's death. Bobby owes his brother a lot of money, but it is suggested that he is often taken advantage of by him. Wyatt's investigation takes him to Jeph, who claims that Bobby threatened and attacked Mona. Lucinda, the local mechanic specializing in the Yugo (that seemingly everyone in town drives) informs Wyatt that Mona's car (i.e. Jeph's) had been tampered with in multiple ways.
Phil tells Wyatt that he was a battered husband, Mona having hit him after having accused him of having an affair. He also claims that Jeph and Mona had had an argument on the evening before the accident. Bobby tells Wyatt that he hated Mona and that they had had an argument over Jeph's pay. Mona would not let him dissolve the partnership. Phil and Jeph leave Mona's wake very early. Meanwhile, Wyatt breaks into the Dearly's and finds out that Mona's and Jeph's car keys have been switched. Phil expresses his gratitude to Bobby for killing Mona. Bobby then confesses to Ellie that he rigged Jeph's car, because Jeph was destroying their business. Ellie then announces that she is pregnant. This conversation is overheard by Clarence.
Phil now tells Wyatt that he spotted Bobby near the Dearly residence on the night prior to the accident, claiming that he did not say this earlier because Wyatt and Bobby are soon to be family. Jeph, who it turns out is also involved with Rona, finds out about Phil's affair with her. Phil later spots them making love. 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 as Valerie tells Wyatt 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 discovered dead in a pond at the Charm Motel. Murph tells this to Ellie, who fears that Bobby, who left their house that night, has killed again. When Rona finds out, she tries to leave town. A flashback shows Jeph not helping Phil when he fell into the water after Phil threatened Jeph that he was going to expose him, Rona, and Bobby.
The police learn that Jeph is threatening suicide because of Rona's leaving. Jeph also states that Phil was not his real father and that Mona chopped off his right hand when they fought over a bottle of beer, but that in spite of all this he did not kill either of them. Wyatt manages to take the gun away from Jeph.
Wyatt then tells Bobby in private that Clarence confessed killing Phil, because he could not stand the idea of Bobby going to jail, especially with the baby on the way. A flashback shows how Phil, having spotted Bobby rig the car, tampers with it some more, which is observed by Clarence, and then, inside the house, switches the keys. (Clarence could not have seen Phil do the latter and, presumably, thinks that Bobby too intended to kill Mona, not Jeph. Presumably, the heavy rain prevented Clarence from seeing which car was rigged, or he simply does not know which car is whose.) It must be emphasized that because of the use of flashbacks this may not be what really happened.
Wyatt promises Bobby to keep quiet about Bobby's involvement as long as he takes good care of Ellie and the baby. In the final scene, Bobby and Ellie get married and Clarence gets taken away.

Review: I found it quite hilarious, as the earnest sheriff, DeVito, of Verplanck, N.Y., a down-at-the-heels upstate burg where everyone drives a Yugo due to a long-ago promotion scheme (an offbeat touch), attempts to solve the murder of the town's most hated woman, played by Middler.
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).
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.
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).
This is a different kind of comedy -- maybe too subtle for some people's tastes -- but anyone who appreciates the dark humor in "Raising Arizona" or "Fargo" should give this movie a viewing.Casey Affleck portrays a perfectly bewildered, hopeless, helpless suspect in the murder of The Worst Woman (Formerly) Alive, Mona Dearly.
There are dozens of hilarious, subtle, and easily missed lines and facial expressions throughout the movie which define the many characters inhabiting a small town in upstate New York where Yugo once tested its cars.
Casey Affleck gives an excellent performance as put-upon Bobby Calzone, Neve Campbell is terrific as Ellen, Bobby's fiancee, and Danny DeVito is loveable and sweet as police chief Wyatt Rash, Ellen's father.
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.
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..
The tremendous word play, goofy (yet well developed characters as well as character relationships), even though the characters were mostly small town and moronic, they were intertwined/interwoven in such a smart and believable way to me it is a tragedy this film is not known to most movie lovers, for it is high up on my list of all time favorite funny movies.
The all star cast delivers one liners after one liners that all add up to such a hilarious finish, not only does it get better with age like a great bottle of red wine or single malt, but I always come away noticing something(albeit small) new.
the movie is filled with odd characters that are the real key to it's overall charm.Bette Midler shines in the role of the recently deceased Mona...
William Fichtner absolutely steals this movie, as Mona's "battered husband", who likes to play "Wheel of Fortune" with Jamie Lee Curtis.
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.
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 overall, DROWNING MONA isn't as funny or as witty as RUTHLESS, since both films have characters that are rather ruthless.
But for the opening scene, he chooses to show Mona  only in flashbacks, which is added difficulty to the film unity; at the same time, each  flashback permits to define aspects of Mona's  personality and life, i.e. pure evil mixed with unhappiness ( indifferent cheating husband,  love/hate relationship with her no-good son, unattractive looks , resentment at the unfairness shown in the knife-throwing contest)..
The casting shows similar discrepancies: de Vito has had better parts in the past ( but is partly responsible thereof, as a producer of the film) ; Casey Affleck is not a worse actor than his brother    ( which is not saying much!
More positive aspects:  Bette Midler is almost too convincing as the malevolent Mona ( but quite moving in the above knife-throwing contest scene );  Jamie Lee Curtis has composed with apparent delight the unglamorous part of the oversexed waitress; newcomer Marcus Thomas is rather good as the son, and William Fichtner really excellent as the husband.
Will Ferell , as the mortician, has the best line of the film ( speaking of Mona's death: " I have seen people more upset over losing change in a candy machine" - in France they replaced "change " by " 10 cents ", which is perhaps even slightly better ).
Much is made in the film's advertising that the entire population of the small town of Verplanck, New York, wants to Mona dead.
Her husband Phil is having an affair with a diner waitress Rona, played by the wonderful Jamie Lee Curtis, who is also having an affair with Phil and Mona's son at the same time It's like a Jerry Springer episode at times.
Ditto for the rest of this cast of  `off beat' losers (played by Neve Campbell, Jamie Lee Curtis etc.) who seem to inhabit this small town in more than average numbers.
And, of course, the film loses what little nerve it has at the end by letting the ostensibly `guilty' person off the hook.The problem with `Drowning Mona' is that the film really perishes in the river right along with her in the brief opening scene - and, as a result, the rest of the movie is really the cinematic equivalent of watching a stiff, lifeless and rotting corpse..
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.
A cast that includes Danny Devito, Bette Midler, Jamie Lee Curtis and Neve Campbell could normally carry any script pretty far, for example (and as it turns out, Kathleen Wilhoite and William Fichtner really shine here).
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.
By the end of it all you will not give a monkeys who Drowned Mona, indeed if she had lived the film would have surely been better as Midler is the best character in it!..
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.
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).
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".
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.
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.
I couldn't believe great talent like Jamie Lee Curtis, and Danny DeVito would star in "Drowning Mona," a dull, one dimensional film with poor comedy.
In a cast that includes Casey Affleck, Neve Campbell, William Fichtner, and Bette Midler; I expected to see a much better film than I did.
DROWNING MONA / (2000) ***Starring: Danny DeVito, Neve Campbell, Casey Affleck, Bette Midler, Jamie Lee Curtis, Will Ferrell, and William Fichtner Directed By Nick Gomez .
Mona does horrible things like smashing her son's co-worker's car with a golf club, accuses people, commits dastardly deeds, chops her own offspring's limb off, and is a poor sport at nearly every event we witness.The movie is filled with a variety of wondering and well-cast characters.
Danny De Vito and Bette Midler are really had outstanding career, but in this film only Midler is funny as ruthless woman and De Vito as Xeriff, then as good guy maybe this explain in part that picture didn't take off, quite often De Vito play a devious guy who try find advantage to yourself so as normal guy...he's totally wasted in this role and the remain cast didn't help so much...maybe the two deputy with the weak jokes about how Jeff lost your hand...another waste was not explore Will Ferrell's character who deserved more space which is really outrageous funny!!!.
Drowning Mona would have to be one of the best comedies I have seen in a long time.
It has a great cast with Danny Devito,Jamie Lee Curtis,Bette Midler and Neve Campbell.Most comedies these days seem to have to rely on smutty jokes and coarse language to be funny(ie American Pie) but this didn't.Don't get me wrong I am not knocking American Pie because I love that movie.Drowning Mona reminded me very much of the eighties dark comedies Ruthless People which also starred Danny Devito and Bette Midler and Throw Momma From The Train.It wasn't as funny as those but it was along the same line.I loved Bette Midler in Outrageous Fortune and Ruthless People and I thought she was great in this too even though she only played a relatively small role.I cant understand why so many people slam this movie.It is entertaining,funny,well acted and it is also a good murder mystery..
Drowning Mona is a good comedy about the death of a woman the whole town hates.
For instance, once you realize what the chief believes in, he's not that funny any more, but we still liked the characters, the sight of everybody driving Yugos, and Bette Midler especially going over the top..
I really didn't think it was that bad.Ok so no wonderful special effects, no twisting and turning hard to follow plot and no breath taking scenery but so what!If you fancy a night in with a film that wont hurt your brain or frighten the living day lights out of you then you could do a lot worse.no concentration needed for this one, but try it, you might even like it.
Danny Devito, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bette Midler, Neve Campbell.
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..
Some of the acting is certainly questionable, but all the stars do just fine.Better Midler plays Mona Dearly, a crude, rude, short-tempered know-it-all who's hated by just about everybody in town.
i really like bette midler, and she and danny de vito make a great comedy team..
A good cast (Danny DeVito, Casey Affleck, Jamie Lee Curtis), an enticing premise, but just as funny as it should be..
Too little Bette and not enough character for Danny Devito to carry this movie..
"Mona" is a very well-cast movie, with each of the actors creating a memorable character.
This film enabled its entire cast, many of them big name stars playing characters we aren't used to seeing them as, to challenge themselves in their acting careers.
DROWNING MONA (2000) **1/2 Bette Midler, Danny De Vito, Neve Campbell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Casey Affleck, Marcus Thomas, William Fichtner, Kathleen Wilhoite, Peter Dobson, Will Ferrell, Tracy Walter.
(Dir: Nick Gomez)Midler and De Vito are reunited (more or less) in this `Ruthless People' meets `Roshomon' black comedy about a suspected murder and a town full of dumb and dumber denizens that has one wonder what's in the drinking water.Set in the backwater town of Verplanck, NY - the unofficial test town for the Yugo (which is one of the many running gags the film parlays for laughs) - De Vito stars as the chief of police trying to determine the untimely death of the most hated (and hateful) woman of his quiet little hamlet, Mona Dearly.
Rash soon discovers that practically every citizen had a reason to off the dispicable Dearly including his daughter Ellen (Campbell) and her fiancee Bobby (Affleck) who runs a landscaping venture with Mona's dimwitted, and one-handed doofus sun Jeff (Thomas).A chief suspect  is her equally IQ challenged spouse Phil - (Fichtner in a very funny turn, and more known for menacing creeps like in `Albino Alligator' ), whose hair seems inspired by a Farrelly Brothers film, who is Phil-andering (get it!) with the town floozy, Rona (Curtis, in an entertaining gum-chewing, chain-smoking turn), a waitress at the local diner, who engages in kinky sex involving the home game of `Wheel of Fortune' (giving new meaning to the term `I wanna buy a vowel').
Each character seems to be only one iota smarter than the other and the whole premise of an entire populace out to ice the nastiest woman in town is ripe for humor.The film on the whole doesn't disappoint (especially the `Roshomon'-like accounts of how Jeff lost his hand - the onlyl agreeable storytelling element was he was reaching for a beer) and Curtis, De Vito and Campbell come off as old pros while Affleck, Thomas and especially Fichtner have laugh out loud funny moments (the latter in his attempt to avoid a beaning from a frying pan wielding p***ed off Milder) too.
The best thing in this movie is Neve Campbell, She at least gives a funny and interesting performance.
Mona Dearly (Bette Midler) is the most hated and despised person in town, apparently by everyone including her husband, Phil (William Fichtner), and her son, Jeff (Marcus Thomas).
Beside the fact that this film just isn't funny (which does not bode well for a comedy), there isn't a sympathetic character to be found; everyone involved in this is pretty much just as despicable as Mona herself.
Drowning Mona isn't a bad film, but it isn't good either.
the biggest mystery is not who killed the title character, but why such A-level talent (Bette Midler, Jamie Leigh Curtis, Danny DeVito, Neve Campbell) would be attracted to this C-level screenplay.
So I spent a lot of time in Yugos in the late 80s.If you're still laughing at this story at this point, take note of that superior perspective, because that's what made me knock down my rating of Drowning Mona to a 7.Interesting though morose and bizarre story, absurdist running gags ("wheel of fortune", personalized yugos, dead puppies), nutty script, a town full of reprehensible, dislikeable characters, with Bette Middler playing the Reverse-Diva.
And as for Casey Affleck and William Finchter, well they are still wet behind the ears when it comes to the game, so we can forgive them for being in trash like this.Drowning Mona starts off with Bette Midler getting into a car and driving over the edge of a cliff into the lake.
The movie itself goes back and forth between present time and flashbacks containing moments of a living Mona Dearly, who dies rather abruptly at the very beginning of the film.
The movie itself goes back and forth between present time and flashbacks containing moments of a living Mona Dearly, who dies rather abruptly at the very beginning of the film.
The main characters in the film are Bobby Calzone (Casey Affleck) and Chief Rash (DeVito).
'Drowning Mona' is pretty much a "whodunit" movie with a twist that makes you laugh and think at the same time.
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.