Drowning Mona (2000)
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29% of critics liked it
(76 reviews) -
39% of users liked it
(15,010 ratings)
Rage, jealousy, murder, and Eastern European automotive engineering combine in this offbeat black comedy. Verplanck, NY, is a small town north of Manhattan that has the dubious distinction of being the Yugo capital of America; the ill-fated import compact was first test-marketed in Verplanck, and… More Rage, jealousy, murder, and Eastern European automotive engineering combine in this offbeat black comedy. Verplanck, NY, is a small town north of Manhattan that has the dubious distinction of being the Yugo capital of America; the ill-fated import compact was first test-marketed in Verplanck, and nearly everyone in town drives one. So no one finds it unusual when a yellow Yugo is seen floating in the river, though seeing someone trapped inside is out of the ordinary. Verplanck's chief of police, Wyatt Rash (Danny De Vito), discovers that the deceased driver was a prominent local citizen, Mona Dearly (Bette Midler), and the evidence suggests that Mona's death was no accident. But the investigation into Mona's murder is hampered by one rather significant detail: nearly everyone in town hated Mona and wanted her dead. She alienated her son Jeff (Marcus Thomas) and his business partner Bobby (Casey Affleck). Bobby's girlfriend Ellen (Neve Campbell) (who is also Rash's daughter) is convinced that Mona would have tried to drive a wedge into their relationship. Mona's husband Phil (William Fichtner) couldn't stand her and fell into an affair with Rona (Jamie Lee Curtis), the waitress at the local diner. And even Rash's sidekick, Deputy Feege (Peter Dobson), spent too much time on the wrong end of Mona's temper to care that she's dead. Before long, the question is no longer who is a suspect, but who isn't? Drowning Mona was directed by Nick Gomez, who earned positive notices for his independent films New Jersey Drive and Illtown. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Directed By
- Nick Gomez
- Written By
- Peter Steinfeld
- Genres
- Drama, Comedy
- In Theaters
- Mar 3, 2000 Wide
- Studio
- Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Gemma Files, Film.com
No kind of triumph of anything over anything.
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Jay Carr, Boston Globe
Rudely funny.
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Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Too pleased with its own outrageousness.
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Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Mona, a screenplay dripping with contempt, gives its cast enough rope and enough bad jokes to make you feel seriously sorry for all of them.
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Louis B. Parks, Houston Chronicle
The film is monumentally minor -- you'll hardly remember you saw it a week later.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
Cast
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Danny DeVito
as Chief Wyatt Rash
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Bette Midler
as Mona Dearly
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Neve Campbell
as Ellen Rash
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Jamie Lee Curtis
as Rona Mace
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Casey Affleck
as Bobby Calzone
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William Fichtner
as Phil Dearly
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Marcus Thomas
as Jeff Dearly
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Peter Dobson
as Deputy Feege
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Kathleen Wilhoite
as Lucinda
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Tracey Walter
as Clarence
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Paul Ben-Victor
as Tony Carlucci
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Paul Schulze
as Jimmy D
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Mark Pellegrino
as Murph
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Raymond O'Connor
as Father Tom
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Will Ferrell
as Cubby
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Lisa Rieffel
as Valerie
- Fred Scialla
- Nick Gomez
