The Smell of Success (2009) User Reviews (16)

Insert whatever excremental pun you can think of

[wmjaho · 4/10 · 22 January 2009]

Anyone that has seen a movie by Mark and Michael Polish should come to expect something unusual. Their latest film, Manure, delivers in spades (yeah, that was a pun). Actually, this movie might best be seen under the influence of drugs. Being straight and sober, I'm not sure I appreciated it. Or understood it. Or perhaps I fell asleep and dreamt this.

Starring Billy Bob Thornton and Tea Leoni, the story is about a woman living in New York (Rosemary Rose) who inherits her father's manure company after his untimely passing. Thornton is the lead salesman (Patrick). Together they try to save the company from bankruptcy. That's the sane part.

Here's the silly stuff: Unfortunately, making Rose Manure profitable involves selling a lot of s___ (only one of maybe 200 excrement jokes and puns in the movie). And there's no better bulls____ than Patrick (trust me, they never stop).

No, no, that was the sane part. This is what's zany: Turns out there's new competition in the form of a chemical fertilizer company entering the market, actually by parachuting in countless crates of chemical fertilizers as well as black-suited salesmen who land carrying briefcases.

Hold it, that's still pretty tame compared to the psychedelic mushrooms they eat which causes them to vomit voluminously onto one another and hallucinate, or dressing up the Rose salesmen as Indians to burn at the stake, or the 48 Triple-D breasts one of the salesmen grows when he eats some fertilizer, or the vegetable masks. And there's plenty more where that came from.

The plot is as silly as you can imagine, and like all the acting (except Thornton), way over the top. The sets typically include backdrops, with everything (EVERYTHING) in various shades of brown. You could not conceive of a more ridiculous movie. Which would be perfect if you were in the right mood (know what I mean?). But passing joints is not allowed at Sundance screenings, so most of the crowd was left shaking their heads and wondering what it was they just witnessed.

Notes from Sundance The cast was all present on opening night. Thornton and Leoni were sitting right in front of me. They were both very gracious with fans, allowing their photos to be taken and being great sports. After the movie, Thornton was very funny and clever. But the Q&A quickly fizzled. The audience was too shell-shocked to think of intelligent questions. And no one had the audacity to ask Mark and Michael Polish what was on everyone's mind: "What the heck were you guys thinking?!!!"

Interesting story with a unappealing subject.

[cbeltrano · 6/10 · 3 January 2012]

Bof, I just saw the movie with my husband and I like the beginning but the story turned strange rapidly. Too much emphasis on the sh*t jokes. I really like Billy Bob Thornton thats why I rented the movie, I never heard of it before. I was at the video club and I rent it with 2 others movies. Tea Leoni was great but the character she played was too clumsy and it look a bit too surreal. The colour in the movie were strange, my husband didn't stop telling me that everything is brown! It was filmed in sepia, I was hoping that they will switched to normal colour but they only do at the end of the movie. The sepia got me very annoyed during the movie, it nice for a couple of minutes, half-hour maximum but the entire movie was too exaggerated. An average movie for a Wednesday night.

You wont miss anything NOT watching it, because the many (contineous) sh(t jokes do become tiresome...

[imseeg · 5/10 · 19 September 2021]

Walk on by folks, nothing much to see here.

The bad: the story sounded promising and funny. Inheriting a cow's manure company (with big debts to the mob). BUT the execution of this story never becomes really funny. The many sh(t jokes that just keep on coming, are really tiring.

Not any good? Good actors. That's about it, because these actors cant save this "comedy" from drowning slowly. Not entirely bad, simply not hitting the mark.

The Literal Smell Of Success

[Chrysanthepop · 31 December 2012]

The 'Smell of Success' seems quite an an odd title for the film but a couple of minutes into the movie, I realized that the makers were being quite literal. Anyway, it's nice to see that there's a film about the fertilizing industry in the 50s and one that doesn't rely on toilet humour. First of all, most of the jokes were quite funny. I laughed at a number of them even though a few of them were overdone (for example the breast augmentation jokes, the jumping from the plane etc).

The visuals are beautiful. Despite being sepia tinted and almost devoid of colour, they look quite artistic. Most of the frames look like beautiful paintings. The 50s look is also very well captured thanks to the fine art direction costume and makeup.

Billy Bob Thornton does a decent job as the head fertilizer salesman who suddenly feels threatened by sensational Rose and undermines her in his attempts. Tèa Leoni is amazing, proving her comedic fort once again. Frances Conroy is a delight. Mark Polish, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Ed Helm provide good support. Kyle Machlachlan too isn't bad as the smug antagonist.

I only felt that the story lacked consistency. It would occasionally delve into subplots that are never developed. As stated earlier, some of the jokes were overdone and felt repetitive. Given the concept, it could have been a funnier flick but for some reason the Polish Brothers restrain.

Yet, it's a decent watch. A film that certainly has charms with some classy creative toilet humour.

Avoid like The Plague

[hiberniate · 1/10 · 25 May 2012]

I just had to turn this off after 20 minutes or so. Unbelievably bad. And as one reviewer pointed out, about half the dialogue is puns on manure and excrement. Also, most of the outdoor scenes look horribly artificial, like a bad B-movie (and even though this was intentional in a way, it's still terrible to look at and undermines whatever attempt at realism/credibility the film is making). Cannot understand how they assembled such a decent cast for such a horrible piece of ... (insert fecal term of choice) And I'm not just hatchet-jobbing the film because it's so bad, I was just wishing afterwards that someone has warned me off it. Even liking Billy Bob Thornton and Tea Leoni (spelling?) didn't help at all. I actually felt sorry and embarrassed for them! That's how bad this was. Too bad.

I Really Enjoyed It

[ezriderz · 7/10 · 24 April 2011]

A low key comedy that kept me amused and entertained. Tea Leoni proves to be a great comedic actress, and I LOLed at several of her pratfalls. Paired with the subtle sly humor of Billy Bob Thornton, there is a lot of nuance to mine from a movie plot about competing manure salesmen.

Low cost production values added to the comic strip sense of humor. Scenery seemed painted, e.g., clouds in the sky didn't move with the breeze. But the story had all the necessary elements, including bad guys in the form of a competitor fertilizer company which seems overpoweringly endowed. There were subtle double entendres that showed the tongue in cheek intent of the film.

This is an amusing and fairly intelligent comedy pretending to be dumber than it is. Some viewers don't get the deeper level of very well executed comic strip comedy.

A real stinker

[dracher · 1/10 · 3 May 2011]

Here is a movie which should have been very funny and should have been one of the most entertainingly funny frolics of the age. instead, it is a stinker from beginning to end. Mr Thornton is incapable of being bad, like any good actor worth his salt, he gives the movie every chance to succeed, he never lets it down and he plays the character to the hilt entirely without fault. unfortunately, the material is not up to it and the direction is of the worst kind of "keep it in" variety. Tea Leoni is also on top of it, but her part is not well written enough to support her sterling work and she appears to be directed in two directions at once, she is supposed to be strong and determined, but she is made to fall over (too many times) and to behave like a half wit from the outset. the two leads seem to be working in different movies as a matter of fact. The jokes are thin and old fashioned and there are way too many sh*t jokes and double entendre are milked until they bleed to death. No care what so ever has been taken with the story or the character backgrounds or the sub-plot and there just isn't enough material on the surface to feed the comedy machine. What a shame and what a waste of celluloid. There are two other brothers, who do this kind of thing so much better in my opinion.

I had not laughed at a single scene

[jordondave-28085 · 4/10 · 23 May 2023]

(2011) The Smell Of Success COMEDY

Good ending but totally unfunny which stars Billy Bob Thorton as Patrick who works for a manure to fertilizer Rose company selling to farmers as their potential customers. The owner then passes away leaving the company in the hands of it's daughter Rosemary Rose played by Tea Leoni. She then finds out that her father has always been on debt resorting to laying off all it's workers. As a result of not knowing how to manage it, she then seeks the help to Patrick since he was supposedly to be the company's best seller again as well as 5 other employees to help pay off the debt. It is at that particular moment is when another fertilizer company drops in with attempt to populate it's farming fields as opposed to Rose's. They battle it out, but in an unfunny perhaps boring kind of way. Filmed on a stage but doesn't address the issue of trying to sell it somewhere else since they're farming communities all over.

A SILLY & FUNNY NON-CEREBRAL FLICK!

[plasmapilot · 9/10 · 10 August 2021]

This terrific ensemble cast really delivered the laughs with charm! My rating is based on pure enjoyment & that was certainly provided by BILLY BOB THORNTON & TEA LEONII. The dialog was as critical to this film as the well executed dynamics of the supporting actors. It was certainly silly & that's what made it so much fun to watch! Surprises included free of charge!

The most fun I've had watching a movie in awhile!

[dainamariebradley · 9/10 · 21 August 2021]

Fun! That describes this film in a nutshell. If you're looking for a straight-laced Oscar-type film, or a big blockbuster or a franchise knowing what to expect, then this is not for you. But if you have the capacity to just enjoy a movie for the fun of it, this is it! I loved every minute, every frame. From the sepia-toned cinematography to the suicide-door Lincoln Continentals to the mid-century modern decor, this was a feast for my eyes. The comedic talents of Billy Bob Thornton and Tea' Leone were showcased brilliantly, along with the rest of the cast. I'll be laughing about Tea' Leone falling in the mud while wearing her Jackie Kennedy-like suits and hats for a long time to come. Billy Bob is hilarious when talking about his product with such a straight face. The music score is perfect to highlight the era of a much simpler time. It can also be taken as a reminder that a certain Big Chemical company has forever changed the circumstances of independent farms, as well as the industry of farming as a whole. This is also a cautionary tale that remembers simpler times on the verge of changing into complex ones. Being a baby boomer who appreciates movies like this one, this was a no-brainer win for me. I like a lot of newer movies also, that incorporate current elements into their themes. But I enjoyed the way salesmen of the Atomic Age were showcased at a time when door to door sales were common, and service was personal, rather than everything being available for purchase online without human interaction. This movie reminds us of what life was like when people stuck together and solved problems as a group, not focusing entirely on themselves as individuals. The number of manure puns could be seen as excessive by some, but I found them all funny and endearing. This movie made me laugh, while melting my heart, all because of the wonderfully human characters and their unbreakable spirits. In these days of social isolation, this kind of entertainment couldn't be more welcome for me. It won't be for everyone, but I'd recommend giving it a try before passing on it. After all, we may be isolated, but these days I'm glad we're not trapped in the times of only a few network TV stations with no movies on demand!

FEEL FREE TO TOUCH IT,

[nogodnomasters · 9/10 · 21 June 2019]

The production utilizes a brown surreal back drops for effect. All the salesmen drive identical brown Plymouths, apparently synonymous with crap. The beginning of the film is loaded with manure humor. Like real manure, after you have been around it for a while, you don't notice it. Mr. Rose dies and leaves the company to his city daughter Rosemary (Téa Leoni). The time frame is the mid 60's. She attempts to get the debt ridden company under control and rides with the salesmen of which Patrick Fitzpatrick (Billy Bob Thornton) is the best.

Things aren't going too well, then the bottom drops out when a rival company threatens to push them out of business, resulting in an unorthodox war between the companies. Meanwhile there is a mysterious man called Nose-tra-dameus or Nelly the Nose (Richard Edson) who visits the office.

The movie is clever, even without the manure humor. Ed Helms is his typical self while Pruitt Taylor Vince gives us his likeable big guy role. I loved the backdrops as every day had a brown hue overcast. My biggest negative was the anachronism of the Endangered Species Act (1973).

No f-bombs, sex, or nudity. Fake man boobs. Frequent S-word usage, move over South park.

A farce by any other name...

[dijjjon · 8/10 · 19 June 2011]

I read the preceding review before I saw the film and I was compelled to return to IMDb, register and drop a few lines of my own. With all due respect to the Sundance attendee, I laughed at the portion of the review that described how the Q&A session fizzled after a few minutes. The film reminded me of Samuel Beckett's "Happy Days". What more is there to be said? Téa Leoni is simply heroic in her pratfalls and Thornton wears the brown suit like a snake. Strangely enough, Ed Helms doesn't fit in the cast since his elephant through a pinhole style is too familiar. I'm sorry I had to stumble upon this piece. What can "brown do for you" when it's competing with self-centred angst, car crashes and CGI monsters for the attention of simpletons.

Unbelievable

[sharok · 9/10 · 12 November 2014]

If you like realism, pass this one. If you like explosions, likewise. If your favorite film is Notting Hill, forget it. But if you like the unexpected, if you like being surprised by well-known actors in improbable roles, if you appreciate the second and third degrees of humor and things going a bit strange, this is definitely a film to see. Do not expect sanity or anything to do with down-to-earth. This is Delicatessen in Kansas, it's the Wizard of Oz without wizards and just one monkey. It's insane, it's incredible, and it is simply delicious. A review is supposed to be ten lines long, but that is an arbitrary limit imposed by functionaries that cannot comprehend that sometimes art cannot be described in a predetermined format.

simple joke

[Kirpianuscus · 23 January 2017]

or a game. adventure. dark comedy. parody of few genres. or, simple, entertainment. it seems be strange to define this crazy story who could remind many similar others but who has the virtue to be a charming and not comfortable ironic view about the different aspects of business world. it has influences from the French comedy and crumbs from teenager games. it is occasion for each actor to give memorable characters and to remind the crazy pleasure of to be out of ordinary expectation. result, a nice, chaotic story. good actors in not the most convincing roles-Tea Leoni is the name who remains long time after the final credits in memory for the inspired manner to solve the challenge of her character - . and a good job.

nice

[Vincentiu · 10 January 2015]

a nice film about a special product. pure hilarious comedy with perfect end, good actors and without great expectations script about competition, revenge, s.h.i.t. and a strange love story. it is easy to enjoy you about a very delicate subject and its fight against miracle. childish in many parts, it could be a good choice for the fans of actors - the metamorphose of character by Tea Leoni is one of seductive details. a film about smells. not ordinaries but useful. about a project and about solutions to a deep crisis. not great. but nice. strange. but seductive for its chaotic solutions. and, maybe, for options for revenge.

Another digital-acquisition failure

[trewrtew · 12 July 2011]

As soon as I saw the start of this film I asked myself, "Why the sepia tones?" Later, I asked, "Is this a play? Finally, when unsure of the answers to either question, I turned to IMDb. Oh, I see! It's shot on digital! Now, the RED camera is capable of super-realistic colour reproduction. On the other hand, RED format can sometimes even pass off masquerade as film - for a while. Given time, we audiences will possibly come to accept its particular look as being worthy of filmic drama. But not yet. Until that day, those film-makers who are unsure of their screenplay, talent or the financial certainty of their venture are likely to seek the cost-savings which digital acquisition can offer.

One day too, some brave cinematographer will use the RED's hyper-colour potential, starting an exciting, new genre. Until then, cut-cost producers will try vainly to disguise RED's inability to actually look like film. Usually these DOPs rely upon under-exposing and heavily back-lighting their scenes, with often a touch of rim-lighting to dazzle and sparkle. It's sort of like every lady's best trick: the little black cocktail dress. -But all day? Every day??

With The Smell of Success, the producers have gone all the way and hidden the colour altogether. It's sepia! only the faintest hint of skin-tones. We are treaated to yellow skies, hospital doctors in beige lab-coats, beige teeth and lots of brown. I'm afraid the whole film reminds me of the nicotene-stained Czechoslovakian cafes of the Soviet days. An aesthetic mistake. Bad taste. Please take the whole thing back to the colourists and undo that last, desperate decision they made in an attempt to save a picture they had no confidence in: Lose the sepia. Re-release the original, un-colourised film. If we want modified colours we can probably tweak the settings ourselves.