Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Strictly average movie

Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Danny De Vito and Bette Midler are really had outstanding career, but in this film only Midler is funny as ruthless woman and De Vito as Xeriff, then as good guy maybe this explain in part that picture didn't take off, quite often De Vito play a devious guy who try find advantage to yourself so as normal guy...he's totally wasted in this role and the remain cast didn't help so much...maybe the two deputy with the weak jokes about how Jeff lost your hand...another waste was not explore Will Ferrell's character who deserved more space which is really outrageous funny!!!

If you have ever been to the real Verplank, you would know why they picked the name of the town for this story. I grew up in the town next to Verplank. And if any group of sorry trash needed to be ridiculed in a movie, it is Verplank. Too bad they didn't film in the real Verplank. Probably too trashy for the producers. Verplank Does not have the colorful characters found in this movie. The residents lack even the endearing qualities that Mona displays. And even YUGO would be ashamed to be associated with them. Verplank is referred to as the "Point" because it is a point of land in the Hudson river. But in reality, it is a butt. And when I saw the opening credits to this movie I laughed because Verplank had found it rightful place in movie history.

This movie is exceptional! I have seen it more than a hundred times, maybe 2... I own it. As a matter of fact..... I JUST WATCHED IT. Everyday I look at my DVD's and say...."what do I wanna watch?" Then I say, Jill... just put in Drowning Mona, then I say, well, it is a good movie. It's the scenery and the whole ambiance of the place they taped the movie in that rocks. If you watch it with the commentary on you'll see that even though the movie's supposed to be in New York state, its filmed in Cali. Also, it has very lush scenery and lots of greens. I like that. It's one of those films you can put on for a specific feeling... I also like how They give different references to how Jeff lost his hand. That's a highlight for me. Go watch this f-ing movie, now!

Maybe Danny DeVito and Bette Midler should collaborate more often. The two times they did it was comedy gold. While this movie is not as flat out hilarious as "Ruthless People," it should still be enjoyed by the same people who love that movie. It starts with a prologue stating how Verplanck, New York was the location where they decided to launch the Yugo line of cars in America. As a result, everyone in town, including the police, drives a Yugo car, and they all have catchy license plates like UGOMONA, ELLEEE, and OH RONE.As the title suggests, this black little whodunit concerns who opted to rid the small town of Verplanck of its nastiest inhabitant, the matriarchal hag Mona Dearly (Midler, who chews up every inch of the screen in her "Rashomon"-esque flashback scenes). Police Chief Wyatt Rash (Danny DeVito, playing against type as the straight man), is determined to find out, even if nobody else cares to help. It's come at a bad time, because he's trying to help his daughter Ellie (Neve Campbell) plan her big wedding to mild-mannered land-scaper Bobby Calzone (Casey Affleck), who has just ended up short-handed after his beer-guzzling partner Jeff Dearly (Marcus Thomas, the epitome of slackerdom) takes a leave of absence. Bobby also seems unnaturally concerned with the the death of a woman who meant only bad things for him.The characters, while bordering on cartoons, are played tongue-in-cheek, and you know the actors had fun doing it. There's the chain-smoking waitress Rhona Mace (Jamie Lee Curtis), who's having an affair with the deceased's husband Phil (William Fichtner, who walks away with the movie as a complete scumbag), and Bobby's overbearing brother Murph (Mark Pellegrino). The cops are just as zany, with Peter Coyote as the do-gooder lieutenant, and Paul Ben-Victor and Paul Schulze (Ryan Chapelle from "24") as a couple of bumbling idiots who seem to be good for one thing, looking out for Numbers One. There's Katherine Wilhoite as Lucinda, the lesbian folk-singer mechanic, and the great Tracey Walter is on board as the local fisherman who nobody really knows much about. Add in a foul-mouthed, alcoholic priest, and a funeral director who's also an amateur pornographer (Will Ferrell before he became huge), and it's a feast for those with a twisted sense of humor.