Death to Smoochy is a 2002 satirical black comedy crime film directed by Danny DeVito and written by Adam Resnick.

Produced by FilmFour and Andrew Lazar's Mad Chance Productions, Death to Smoochy was released in the United States on March 29, 2002, by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Mopes is uniquely sincere and dedicated to providing quality children's entertainment with his show Smoochy's Magic Jungle, which puts him at odds with his new producer, Nora Wells.

Mopes feels that he is losing creative control over his show and hires corrupt talent agent Burke Bennett to renegotiate his contract.

Bennett introduces Mopes to the dark side of the entertainment business by giving him a gun and trying to convince him to work with a corrupt charity.

Burke becomes impatient with Mopes and books him to star in a Smoochy ice show, run by Merv Green and his corrupt charity, Parade of Hope.

Burke and Stokes decide to hire former Kidnet host Buggy Ding Dong to kill Sheldon during the ice show.

[citation needed] Resnick said the film mostly stayed true to his script, although the original was fifteen pages too long, and that subplots and a narrator had to be removed.

Sequences were filmed in several locations in New York City, such as Times Square, Coney Island, Upper West Side and Duane Street in Lower Manhattan.

A brief shot of the North Tower of the World Trade Center can be seen where Rainbow Randolph is dancing on the small bench in Duane Park.

The site's critical consensus states: "The talent involved can't save a script that has nowhere to go with its promising premise.

"[11] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote, "This black-comic assault on family entertainment is going to set a lot of teeth on edge—If only his [DeVito's] material were better this time.

"[12] Conversely, J. Hoberman of The Village Voice praised the film, saying, "Death to Smoochy is often very funny, but what's even more remarkable is the integrity of DeVito's misanthropic vision.

"[13] David Sterritt of The Christian Science Monitor called the film a "razor-sharp satire" and "the most refreshingly outrageous movie of the season".