Spanking the Monkey *** (1994, Jeremy Davies, Alberta Watson) – Classic Movie Review 1663

Director David O Russell’s clever, funny 1994 black comedy stars Jeremy Davies as a teenage lad, promising medical student Ray Abielli, who is forced by his bullying travelling salesman father Tom (Benjamin Hendrickson) to stay home and take care of his sick mom Susan (Alberta Watson) one sweltering summer.

Ray’s attractive but unhappy mother is immobilised by a broken leg, leading to a degree of physical contact Ray finds disturbing. He meets high school girl Toni (Carla Gallo), a high school girl, but his sexual impulses are confused and he’s upset over losing his prestigious summer internship to look after his mom.

This is a highly unusual plot and a highly unusual movie. The director’s witty script gets spot-on-target acting from the eager, little-known cast. Benjamin Hendrickson, Carlo Gallo, Matthew Puckett, Judette Jones, Zak Orth, Josh Phillip Weinstein and Judah Domke co-star.

It won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994. British viewers unfamiliar with the risqué title may know the expression instead as bashing the bishop.

David O Russell, who shot the movie for about $80,000 with money coming partly from short-film grants, has a cameo in a white T-shirt in the background at the bus stop where Ray’s father picks him up. Russell cast Davies after seeing him in a Suburu commercial. It was naughtily advertised as ‘a gripping comedy about letting go’.

David O Russell is also known for Flirting with Disaster (1996), Three Kings (1999), I Heart Huckabees (2004), Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and American Hustle (2013).

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1663

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