Review of Spanking the Monkey (1994) by Michael K — 31 Dec 2007
He major breakthrough film of the guy who did the excellent Three Kings and I Heart Huckabees. Ploughing what probably isn't quite as edgy now as it was upon its release, exploring the mother-son relationship in a fairly average family but with that darkly comic American independent cinema twist on it.
I wish I'd seen this at the time of its release because although it still retained some extremely uncomfortable moments Todd Solondz's Happiness and Palindromes have since taken it further. I'd probably say this is slightly better than O'Russell's Flirting With Disaster and more of an indicator of things to come than a film that will be held up alongside his better work.
This review of Spanking the Monkey (1994) was written by Michael K on 31 Dec 2007.
Spanking the Monkey has generally received positive reviews.
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