Throw Momma from the Train (1987) Orion/Comedy RT: 88 minutes Rated PG-13 (sexual content, language, comic violence) Director: Danny DeVito Screenplay: Stu Silver Music: David Newman Cinematography: Barry Sonnenfeld Release date: December 11, 1987 (US) Cast: Danny DeVito, Billy Crystal, Kim Greist, Anne Ramsey, Kate Mulgrew, Branford Marsalis, Rob Reiner, Bruce Kirby, Joey DePinto, Annie Ross, Raye Birk, Oprah Winfrey, Olivia Brown, Philip Perlman, Stu Silver. Box Office: $57.9M (US)
Rating: ***
In civilized society, matricide isn’t funny. It’s not supposed to be anyway. It definitely shouldn’t be the premise for a comedy. That is, unless you’re talking about a harridan like Mrs. Lift (Ramsay, The Goonies), the titular mother of Throw Momma from the Train. It changes things drastically. She is the baddest mother of all mothers. She’s the kind of mother that makes being an orphan sound good. She makes Joan Crawford look like Mother of the Year. She’s somebody that Mother Theresa and Gandhi would both want to kill. That is, if her son doesn’t beat them to it.
“Momma” is a perfectly awful woman who makes life miserable for her long-suffering son Owen (DeVito, Ruthless People) who frequently fantasizes about doing her in. He’s a lonely, middle-aged schlub who still lives at home with his harsh, disagreeable and paranoid mother. He’s ostensibly her caretaker, but punching bag feels more like it. She yells at him, puts him down, smacks him around and castigates him for minor infractions like buying unsalted peanuts. She’s convinced that he’s secretly planning to put her in a home. Is it any wonder Owen has poor social skills?
His only refuge is a creative writing course taught by Larry Donner (Crystal, Running Scared), a struggling novelist dealing with writer’s block. He just can’t finish that first sentence, “The night was….” The night was what? Was it dark? Wet? Humid? What? He’s resentful of his ex-wife Margaret (Mulgrew, Ryan’s Hope) for good reason. The successful book she’s touting on all the talk shows is really his. She didn’t write it; she just put her name on it and claimed credit. He’s understandably angry and wants her to die. He makes no effort to hide his contempt either. He’s about to wish that he did.
Owen goes to Larry for advice on how to improve his writing skills. Actually, he badgers him in and out of the classroom. An annoyed Larry suggests he view a Hitchcock thriller to gain insight into plot development. He goes to see Strangers on a Train which is where he begins to formulate a plan based on the classic movie’s premise. In his feeble mind, he believes his instructor is suggesting that they each kill the person who’s making the other’s life a living hell. They swap murders, criss-cross, get it? Next thing he knows, Larry gets a call from Owen informing him he just killed Margaret. Now he expects Larry to kill his mother in return. Larry isn’t even willing to entertain the idea. That is, until he meets and experiences her for himself (“She’s not a woman, she’s the Terminator.”).
While Larry tries to gather the courage to carry out the act of murder, the police zero in on him as the prime suspect in his ex-wife’s presumed murder (technically, she’s a missing person). He’s forced to hide out at Owen’s until he can clear his name. In order to guarantee Owen’s silence, he agrees to kill his overbearing mother. What follows is a wacky series of murder attempts foiled at every turn by Momma. It’s not unlike the never-ending rivalry between Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. These scenes are especially funny thanks to the distinctive cinematography of Barry Sonnenfeld, the guy who helped make Raising Arizona the comedy classic it is. The man has serious skills with a camera. He films slapstick sequences better than anybody. The physical humor in Throw Momma from the Train is well-orchestrated and funny. Larry is the target of some painful gags involving frying pans to the head and canes to the crotch.
In a surprising but not undeserved move, Ramsay was nominated for an Oscar (Best Supporting Actress) for her performance in Throw Momma from the Train. It’s an honor usually reserved for more prestigious films, but a brilliant comedic performance like Ramsay’s occasionally manages to sneak its way in there. She ultimately lost to Olympia Dukakis for Moonstruck, but it was still great to see her acknowledged for creating the definitive movie momster. You can’t help but laugh as she abuses, berates, insults and terrorizes poor Owen. I still laugh when she shouts, “OWEN!!!!! You stupid poop!!!” On the surface, she’s horrible. If you look closely, you can see an old lady fearful of losing the one person who cares about her.
The two leads do a good job in their respective roles. DeVito’s character is more than just a dim, pathetic mama’s boy with boundary issues. He’s more sympathetic than that. He’s a man-child who loves and misses his father. His defining scene is where he shows Larry his coin collection that turns out to be change his father let him keep during their outings together. It’s a sweet scene that doesn’t quite fit in a supposed black comedy; I’ll circle back to that shortly. As Larry, equal parts arrogant, annoyed and angry, Crystal does a first-rate job. Here’s a man who can’t let go of his past despite the damage it’s doing to his present and future, especially in regard to his relationship with current girlfriend Beth (Greist, Manhunter). What’s even cooler is that the two high-wattage comedy stars have great chemistry. It doesn’t always turn out this way, but this time it does.
As much as I like Throw Momma from the Train, I do have one critique. It needs a nastier edge if it wants to be an effective black comedy. It needs heartless characters like the ones that populate Ruthless People. First-time director DeVito makes a genuine effort, but doesn’t quite get there. It’s funny, but not as funny as it could have been with a colder heart. That said, it’s not a bad directorial debut for one of the best comic actors in the industry. DeVito has an excellent sense of comic timing. The scene where he interrupts himself talking about murder to exclaim, “Look, cows!” as he and Larry drive past a billboard advertising a dairy is one of the movie’s best moments.
Throw Momma from the Train is like Strangers on a Train on laughing gas. DeVito has a great time goofing on the premise. It almost seems to condone murder by the way it paints the intended targets as horrible people deserving of a violent demise. It’s certainly true in the case of Larry’s ex-wife. She’s a snotty, entitled, conceited bitch who insults him publicly on Oprah Winfrey’s show. Mulgrew succeeds in creating a truly hateful character with no redeeming qualities. If only the rest of Throw Momma from the Train was this courageous. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good movie. It just could have been better with a harsher edge. Still, it’s funny and that’s what really counts in the end.
