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      The Smell of Success

      PG-13 2009 1h 36m Comedy List
      Reviews 28% 100+ Ratings Audience Score A cosmetics saleswoman (Téa Leoni) takes control of her late father's manure company, while a fast-talking fertilizer rep plots a coup. Read More Read Less

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      The Smell of Success

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      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member When the owner of Rose manure passes away his fecal empire is bequeathed to his daughter played by Tea Leoni and has to deal with and get help from his core group of salesman led by Billy Bob Thornton. In her way are a rival group led by Kyle McLachlin. This wants to be funnier than it is even goes as far as giving Ed Helms a ridiculous side effect from the competitions' product. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Audience Member It's a new cult classic, so funky and bad that it's good. Also has some very funny parts! Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member Disappointing. I expected more of this given the comedy potential of the story idea and the decent cast. Visually stunning but poorly scripted. Just not funny or interesting enough. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member Fine, off putting at some points, but still genuinely entertaining comedy film. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member This is a movie about manure salesman. The dialogue reminds us of this fact again and again and again and again and again and again with one poo joke after another. So in that spirit I'm going to write this review in exactly the style of this film's dialogue: This is one of the SHITTIEST comedies I've seen in a long while. What the hell are Billy Bob Thornton, Kyle MacLachlan, and Ed Helms doing in this MESS? And poor Tea Leoni; it's too bad she has to appear in CRAP like this. She must be in a financial PINCH. Director Michael Polish does an EXCREMENTAL job here. His visuals look as though they come from commercials; commercials about POOP, probably. The TURD of a story on offer here is not worth expanding on, since it's hardly substantial enough to MAKE A SPLASH. Someone ought to SQUAT over this MOUND and then throw it in the TOILET where it belongs. This film, in case I haven't been absolutely clear, is a PILE OF SHIT. There. Having read my review, you don't need to see the film, because that's EXACTLY what it's like. Don't waste your time. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review walter m In "The Smell of Success," Mr. Rose(Patrick Bauchau) dies, leaving his manure business to his daughter Rosemary(Tea Leoni), a cosmetics salesperson. She immediately fires everyone. But then soon realizes with the company's huge debts and production that might not have been the right way to go, and soon rehires everybody, especially Patrick Fitzpatrick(Billy Bob Thornton), the lead salesman. However, there are a couple of obstacles in Agent Chestnut(D.W. Moffett) of the FTC and Milagro Industries in their way. For a movie that shares a child's exuberance for all things manure, "The Smell of Success" is actually not bad. It's not really good either, even as it mostly favors word play over vulgarity. That simply leaves a lot of the humor and nearly all of the plot involving a war of pranks. In return, the movie wastes a good cast, especially Billy Bob Thornton and the underrated Tea Leoni. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      The Smell of Success

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      Critics Reviews

      View All (1) Critics Reviews
      Tim Grierson Screen International Unfortunately, Manure's outstanding visual design can't compensate for a screenplay that mostly focuses on setting up the next bravura set piece. May 9, 2009 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis A cosmetics saleswoman (Téa Leoni) takes control of her late father's manure company, while a fast-talking fertilizer rep plots a coup.
      Director
      Michael Polish
      Producer
      Nick Byassee, Spencer Stander
      Screenwriter
      Mark Polish, Michael Polish
      Production Co
      Initiate Productions, Stander Productions
      Rating
      PG-13 (A Drug Situation|Language|Crude and Sexual Content)
      Genre
      Comedy
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Nov 18, 2016
      Runtime
      1h 36m
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