Struggling with writer’s block, Larry (Billy Crystal) is a teacher at community college nursing resentment toward his ex-wife.
One of his students, Owen (Danny DeVito), still lives with his mother (Anne Ramsey) but dreams of murdering her.
When Owen gets it into his head that Larry has murderous intentions toward his former spouse, the pair find themselves trapped in a spiral of mutually assured destruction.
Kind of.
For a while.
Danny DeVito’s first theatrical feature, Throw Momma from the Train is a darkly comedic spin on Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train.
It also feels like this is the movie that haunted DeVito for the rest of his career.
In Vince D’Angelo and The Ratings Game, it feels like the fledgling filmmaker has a strengthening grasp on what he wants to express.
Throw Momma From The Train feels like a filmmaker who is unable or unwilling to go as dark as his premise teases.
As with Vince D’Angelo and The Ratings Game, this film continues DeVito’s theme of television as a vehicle for fame and as a superficial signifier of success.
This is the first film where DeVito’s visual sense begins to expand:
In large part a result of collaborator Barry Sonnenfeld as his director of photography, the film benefits from a dynamic sense of movement and comic exaggeration.
DeVito is on low-key form as Owen, a momma’s boy who fantasises about murdering his mother (Anne Ramsey).
The director/star seems miscast. When Owen gets it into his head that Larry wants him to murder his wife (while watching Strangers on a Train), DeVito conveys a sense of realisation that feels parodic.
Maybe it is the effect of watching DeVito play so many devious characters, but Owen never quite fits him.
Owen is not smart or devious, and Larry is just depressed and self-absorbed. More importantly, outside of a few moments, their self-absorption is not that funny.
More importantly, the movie does not have the strength of its convictions.
Owen may have dark desires but he ultimately cannot act on them.
Neither character is particularly compelling to watch, so when the film goes for sentiment at the end, it falls flat.
With foreknowledge of DeVito’s later endeavours, it feels like he took stock of the film’s reception, and decided to not pull his punches with his next project.
Get the roses, it’s time to prepare for war…
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