Like many great actors, Danny DeVito tried his hand in directing. His most popular roles were comic, so, unsurprisingly, his best known directorial efforts were comedies, albeit with darker overtones. This included his 1987 feature directorial debut Throw Momma from the Train.
Protagonist, played by Billy Crystal, is Larry Donner, professional writer who struggles with writers’ block, and his frustration is made worse with the knowledge that his ex wife Margaret (played by Kate Mulgrew) gained wealth and fame by stealing his previous novel. He is forced to make ends meet by teaching creative writing class at community college where one of the students is Owen Lift (played by DeVito), timid middle-aged man who lives with his overbearing tyrannical mother (played by Anne Ramsey). Owen is so frustrated that he often fantasises about murdering his mother; he is also quite aware of Larry’s hatred towards his wife. After watching Strangers on a Train he decides to put the plan from its plot into practice – he should kill Margaret, while Larry should kill his mother; lack of clear motive should give each man a perfect alibi. When Larry hears about the scheme, he doesn’t take it seriously. But when Margaret disappears during vacation in Hawaii, Larry is concerned that he might indeed become murder suspect and out of desperation he hides in Lifts’ home where he would, from the first hand, learn why Owen developed homicidal intentions.
Matricidal high concept, taken from Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller, had a lot of potential for intriguing black comedy. Script by Stu Silver, sadly, fails to live to its potential. Almost all characters in the film are dislikable; Larry, who is supposed to be “normal” and with whom audience is supposed to identify, ends up as pathetic self-pitying poseur and even his girlfriend, played by Kim Greist, is surprisingly charmless. Furthermore, script never dares to cross certain boundaries of late 1980s mainstream Hollywood, so there isn’t any actual killing in Throw Momma from the Train. Silver achieves that with the series of unconvincing deus ex machina plot twists. On strictly technical level, film works. DeVito directs film with lot of energy, trying to to compensate deficiencies of Silver’s script with action and slapstick. He even adds a little humanity to his otherwise problematic character with a small scene that presents his childhood hobby (apparently introduced in film by DeVito and based on his real life). While Billy Crystal struggles with poorly written role, Anne Ramsey is formidable as monstrous harridan and easily transcends one-dimensionality of her character. Ramsey’s work is even more impressive in light that the actress was mortally ill during the production; she later received Oscar for Best Supporting Actress nomination. Throw Momma from the Train ends quickly as not particularly convincing Hollywood fairytale and leaves impression that the talents involved could have achieved much more. While still entertaining, this comedy could be best recommended to the most devout fans of Crystal and DeVito.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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