Ray just wants to go to medical school. More than that, he has a great opportunity at hand: he's got a big chance with a paper he's writing to be selected as one of the ten interns for the Surgeon General in DC. But there's a hitch, an annoying and bib and personal one: his mother, a depressive, has broken her leg quite badly and is in bed and needs help to do basic things: go to the bathroom, take a shower, have meals, etc. So Ray's father, a traveling salesman (and a louse, which we see in snippets though sadly the rest of the family never quite knows about if suspects), tells Ray he has to do this, no one else can help, and it will be about a month. So much for the internship, right? Could he make it? But what about those showers? And lotioning the legs and the under-the-cast area? And those little touches of the forearm. Mom, you're trying to seduce me(?) Um... are you?Spanking the Monkey, a technically and writerly masterstroke (no pun intended) of a debut from director David O. Russell, is simply a sick twisted f*** of a movie made by a man who, at the time at least, was probably a sick twisted f*** as well. You wanna know what this is? Here's a pitch: Young Charles Manson (who Davies later played) does his Mom. There. Go see it. It delivers on that but it's so much more a psychological mind-bender, but told without too much flash and panache - this isn't Three Kings, for example, it's more low-key and low-budget, which adds to the disturbing elements being directed just like a regular indie film from the 90's. And it does try to add a little levity - or more of a typical quirky/awkward sub-plot where Ray may or may not get into a sexual relationship with a high-schooler (no, believe me, this is the more normal part of the movie, awkward kissing and juxtapositions with the dog as well).But be warned, sorta: this is billed as a 'comedy', and it is in the sense that I chuckled a few times. But the character interactions, Davies performance (and here, more than anything else I've seen him outside maybe Rescue Dawn) looks like he's about to explode or cry or both at any moment, and just how Russell takes a very direct approach to the psychological issues at hand, not sugar-coating how much he and his mother need help and we feel for both of them because it's so honest even in its absurdity, make it essential viewing for those looking for subversive American cinema from the 1990's, or ever really. It would be in Amos Vogel's book if it had been made in the 60's or 70's, you mark my words! That it was made for (relatively) so little and looks pretty polished is a further credit (this won the Audience Award at Sundance 94 - the year Clerks was there, to give perspective).

Given the budget limitations ($80,000), "Spanking the Monkey" manages to hold interest albeit with some poorly chosen scenes.The core of the movie is the relationship between mother and son. The rest of the cast exists to point the way to the inevitable.The philandering, materialistic, self absorbed husband/father illuminates the barren marriage.The fumbling sexual attempts of the son with the girl next door and her contradictory accusations of his sexual attempts as either too rough or not rough enough (gay), understandably confuse the son and provide the mother with a mentoring, nurturing sexual role for her son about how to sexually succeed with women.The mother, stumbling upon a bedroom sexual session between the son and the girl next door, reacts more in jealousy than in any maternally disproving fashion.The mother's flirtatious ways with the male neighbors, doctors, and ultimately with the girl next door's father point out that while she may be her son's mother, she is still a very desirable woman in the eyes of the rest of the male world.From the beginning through the end, you never believe the son and mother ever had a mother/child bonding. Both of them are intellectually superior, highly educated. The mother was young when she gave birth and she thinks of herself as her son's educational, intellectual and ultimately sexual mentor, not his mother.The teenage son's inability to "spank his monkey" combined with the boredom, liquor and medications downed by his mother provide the explosive elements that are just waiting to be lit. The mother's seductive smile and a slight hiking of her nightgown set off the explosion.This movie is nowhere near perfect, but it's compelling enough to let you sit through the unnecessary (e.g. stoner friends) and that's a lot more than you can say for most movies with a budget that is a thousand times greater.

Saw it on HBO2. I don't have anything to say except it's an awful movie. Don't rent it. Whoever is responsible for creating this trash should be banned from future movies. The movie is basically trying to get people to speculate on incest. It has nothing to do with the title, and I'm pretty sure most people don't think the way the characters do in this movie. Overall a very bad attempt to get the general public to accept the movie makers fetish. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone, not even my enemies. It's filthy and disgusting and leaves you with a sick feeling when the movie is over. Please excuse me, I think I have to vomit.

The climax it where it's at in this movie; didn't see it coming the first time I watched the film. Plenty of nice shots and solid character development. Funny and at times painful to watch, but definitely makes you think. The characters are written well and are performed admirably by the cast (with an early role for Jeremy Davies).Great movie to watch in the middle of the day, with the pacing slow relative to many movies. But it works, and it makes the payoff all the more rewarding. The interactions feel so real. This is as good as it gets for under $100,000.