Throw Momma From the Train

Throw Momma From the Train (1987)

Director: Danny DeVito
Cast: Billy Crystal, Danny DeVito, Kim Greist, Anne Ramsey, Kate Mulgrew, Branford Marsalis, Rob Reiner
Writer: Stu Silver

Synopsis
In this re-imagining of Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, writing professor and struggling author Larry Donner (Crystal) gives one of his students, Owen Lift (DeVito) some advice on writing. When Owen misunderstands this advice, he murders Larry's hated ex-wife, Margaret (Mulgrew). In exchange, Owen wants Larry to kill his mother (Ramsey), who has made his life miserable. Hiding out and on the lam, Larry agrees to help Owen out, but Momma Lift is much harder to kill than they thought.

First Impressions
I saw this movie for the first time when I was about 12 years old and I thought it was frigging hilarious. The movie is what one would call a "dark comedy" but it also had its share of slapstick humor, which is probably what appealed to me when I was a kid. I was a little too young to understand a lot of the rest of the movie's humor and truth be told, I was probably too young to watch it altogether but it was the 80s and we got away with a lot. I've watched the movie several more times since then and it remains one of my favorite comedies. However, it's time to see how it stacks up when I look at it with a more critical eye.

Story -

"Well, just meet her. Maybe she'd be someone you'd LIKE to kill"

Honestly, there's not a lot of story here. It's got a very basic premise, borrowed from Hitchcock (two strangers agree to do each other's murders) and doesn't add a whole heck of a lot to fill it out. That's not really a big deal to me though, I don't watch comedies for a riveting story. I watch them to laugh at all the stupid crap that goes on in them and this movie has got its fair share of stupid crap (in a good way). The plot moves a long briskly (it's only 88 minutes long) and it's light on exposition.

The humor is varied and, as previously mentioned, there's a good amount of slapstick in it but there's also a lot of dry, subtle humor which I find equally appealing. To me, a good measure of a comedy is how well do the laughs hold, especially when I know what's coming. In this case, I still laughed, a LOT, at this movie. Additionally, unlike a lot of 80s comedies, the jokes and humorous moments aren't likely to offend a modern ear.

Acting
In my opinion, assessing the acting in comedies is different than other movies. There are a lot of mediocre actors that are fantastic comedic actors. That being said, this movie has some great comedic acting. Crystal is spot on as the movie's protagonist and he is a master at playing the sarcastic sad-sack. DeVito's Owen is a great combination of dimwitted and sincere, which really gives the audience sympathy for him. Mulgrew is solid as Larry's snooty ex-wife, Margaret and plays her in such a way that makes you root against her.

The highlight of this movie, though is Anne Ramsey as Momma Lift. I'm not exaggerating when I say she's freaking brilliant in this role. Momma Lift gets most of the laughs in the move, usually from the creative insults she hurls at people (mostly Owen). Ramsey was so good in the role that she received both Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. Sadly, this was also one of her final movie performances as she died just months after the movie was released.

Visuals/Special Effects
There's really no special effects to speak of in this movie. The visual style is interesting, in that it borrows a lot of classic techniques from Hitchcock, which I'm sure wasn't a coincidence. In particular, DeVito makes good use of the close up, which often led to some great, unexpected laughs.

Score/Music
David Newman is responsible for Throw Momma's music and the most remarkable thing about it is how unremarkable it is. The score is quite peppy, which did a decent job of covering up the somewhat dark subject matter and reminds you that you're watching a comedy.

Action
I wouldn't say there is a lot of "action" in Throw Momma From the Train, unless you consider slapstick, action. However, since I gotta put something in this section, we'll look at the movie's slapstick comedy. There's a lot here that will make any fan of slapstick comedy smile, whether it's a man getting hit in the head with a frying pan, getting sacked by a cane or the countless times Momma smacks Owen upside the head, there's enough good stuff here to offset the much more subtle jokes in the movie.

Final Verdict
Before writing this, I considered Throw Momma From the Train one of my favorite comedies of all time and I still do. It has a number of legitimate laugh out loud moments and it doesn't bog itself down with a lot of unnecessary plot. If dark comedy is your thing, it's worth a look.