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

J. Alan Thomas

Randall Miller

Andre Rosey Brown

Tony Ciccone

William Ray Watson

Larry McCormick

Peter Brocco

Hettie Lynne Hurtes

Karen J. Westerfield

Stanley L. Gonsales

Fred Gephart

Don Burns

Ralph Penland

Tony Dumas

Ne Kaholokula

Jules Dean

Kelly Gallant

Paul McMichael

Anne Randa

Larry Brezner

Barry Sonnenfeld

Michael Jablow

David Newman

Patricia Highsmith

Ida Random

William A. Elliott

Anne D. McCulley

Marilyn Vance

Dorothy Byrne

Ken Chase

R. Gilbert Clayton

C.J. Maguire

Joseph G. Pacelli Jr.

George Stokes

David B. Cohn

Scott A. Hecker

Bob Newlan

Robert R. Rutledge

Jerry Stanford

Robert Waxman

John Frazier

Vince Deadrick Sr.

M. Todd Henry

Laurel Moore

Fred Scialla

Michele Neely

Allegra Clegg

Esther Vivante

Vince Deadrick Jr.

Richard Drown

Dana Dru Evenson

Donna Garrett

Marguerite Happy

Orwin C. Harvey

Larry Holt

Joe Napolitano

Comedy

Crime

Thriller

Throw Momma from the Train

Orion Pictures

United States of America

English

writer's block

train

overbearing mother

ex-wife

aspiring writer

mystery writer

crime fiction writer

dominant mother

murder swap

A little all over the place, granted, but I still felt entertained by <em>'Throw Momma from the Train'</em>.

Danny DeVito stars in what is his theatrical directorial debut. I chose to watch this because of him being in it, as I want to watch more of his stuff, and he is the film's strongest element, I'd say. Billy Crystal is good too, him and DeVito work nicely together throughout.

Anne Ramsey's character annoyed me a lot, I can't lie. I'm actually flabbergasted to read that the performance got Ramsey an Oscar nomination - 1987 must've been a slow year for Best Supporting Actress. No hate for Ramsey though, btw - happy for her! I know Momma is supposed to be annoying, but she's way too far along that particular scale for me.

The aforementioned is my only complaint, however. It's a good time otherwise, even if I feel like it meanders here and there in setting up each part of the story. It's all worthy of your time, mind.

CinemaSerf

Though she doesn't really feature enough, Anne Ramsey does steal the show with her scenes as the mother whom henpecked son "Owen" (Danny DeVito) wants to chuck from the train! Meantime, stagnating author "Larry" is shouting as the television whilst his ex-wife "Margaret" (Kate Mulgrew) is doing the chat show circuit with a book he claimed to have written. He would cheerfully see her dead, and that's exactly what happens when his student "Owen" takes advantage of a scenario on a luxury yacht. Thing is, he owns up to "Larry" and demands - à la "Strangers on a Train" (1951) - a quid pro quo. "Larry" isn't keen on becoming a murderer though, but having encountered the harridan mother first-hand and having become a police suspect in the demise of his former wife he might find his options limited! I'm not really a lover of buddy comedy as such. Usually the scenarios are so obviously contrived to get a series of laughs before a dead cert conclusion that you could have written them yourself. This one isn't really very different on that front, but DeVito and Crystal do work well together keeping the story from becoming too formulaic and at times it provides quite a poignant assessment of friendship and marriage. I had forgotten just how big Oprah's hair was in the 1980s!

Throw Momma from the Train( 1987)

Owen asked his friend Larry for a small favor.

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A review by r96sk

Written by r96sk on Tue Jun 06 2023

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