Edward Norton – Death to Smoochy (2002, Warner Bros)
Since Norton’s first real role, in Primal Fear, resulted in an Oscar nomination, he basically entered the game with the weight of expectation already upon him. Not unlike Hawke, he has never quite fulfilled his initial promise, but his failures typically are of the “prestigious but dull” variety.
Death to Smoochy was neither of those things. In fairness, the Danny DeVito film is not actually that bad — it’s more of a failed attempt than a complete disaster, and it has moments of legitimate gut-busting comedy. It’s just tonally and structurally very, very messy.
