Review of Spanking the Monkey (1994) by Stuart K — 30 Apr 2014

The directorial debut of David O. Russell, this ultra-black comedy was made in Pawling, New York during the summer of 1993 on a shoestring budget of $80,000, (funded from grants usually reserved for short films), and it has a plot you cannot believe Russell concocted out of his head, as it's SO WRONG.

But it has heart and some good characters too. Against the odds, it's a very good film. It begins when medical student Raymond Aibelli (Jeremy Davies) is forced to return to his family home by his salesman father Tom (Benjamin Hendrickson) to look after his mother Susan (Alberta Watson), who has a history of depression and has recently broke her leg.

Raymond isn't happy as he was due to do a medical internship in Washington. So he's stuck at home looking after his mother, who is briefly incapacitated and unable to move around. Losing the internship and eventually his girlfriend Toni (Carla Gallo), Raymond starts feeling emotionally confused and one evening, while giving his mother a massage, he starts getting feelings of an illegal nature.

It's a good character piece, but you'll be left shocked and offended by this film, as it touches upon the touchy subject of incest, although you see the intentions, it doesn't go all the way, which would have been wrong.

But, it got Russell's career off to a brilliant start, and it was off to Hollywood next.