--- title: "Throw Momma from the Train" year: 1987 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/throw-momma-from-the-train" fi1m_id: "throw-momma-from-the-train" imdb_id: "tt0094142" tmdb_id: 11896 wikidata_id: "Q1422110" fi1m_score: 68 critics_score: 65 critics_reviews: 6 published: "2026-10-04T20:16:25.802841+00:00" updated: "2026-10-04T20:16:26.406181+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Throw Momma from the Train (1987) Directed by Danny DeVito · 1h 28m · MPA PG-13 · Comedy, Crime, Thriller ## Identity Throw Momma from the Train - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/throw-momma-from-the-train - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** throw-momma-from-the-train - **IMDb ID:** tt0094142 - **TMDB ID:** 11896 - **Wikidata ID:** Q1422110 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094142/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11896, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1422110 **Fi1m score: 68** · Critics 65 from 6 reviews *In a sentence:* Anne Ramsey makes everyone else’s bad temper look under-rehearsed > Danny DeVito’s crime comedy has enough spite and good acting to survive its untidy plotting. Anne Ramsey’s domineering mother gets the laughs that the noisier action keeps chasing. ## Synopsis Owen Lift (Danny DeVito) asks his friend Larry Donner (Billy Crystal) for a small favour. Mrs. Lift (Anne Ramsey) is a domineering mother, and the request sits within a story involving crime and writer’s block. The friendship between the two men is at the centre of the comedy, with the question of eliminating a motive also entering the picture. Beth Ryan (Kim Greist) and Margaret Donner (Kate Mulgrew) join them in a story of criminal intentions, family trouble and the complications of asking somebody for help. ## Review Danny DeVito’s *Throw Momma from the Train* is a decent, erratic black comedy that gets more out of its actors than its criminal premise. It wants the nastiness to be funny, and often manages it, though the action has a habit of becoming a scramble. The small favour Owen Lift asks of Larry Donner gives the film a promisingly awkward starting point. The difficulty is sustaining that discomfort once everyone gets busy with the complications. Danny DeVito plays Owen Lift with an eagerness that can make a request seem more exhausting than a demand. Billy Crystal, as Larry Donner, supplies a useful resistance, and their exchanges give the film some steadiness. Stu Silver’s dialogue is most enjoyable when it allows the actors time to irritate each other without hurrying towards another development. The writer’s block material helps: the mundane difficulty of getting words onto a page is a useful frustration for a comedy to understand. Anne Ramsey is the strongest reason to stay with it. Her Mrs. Lift is a domineering mother played with such relish that the bullying becomes absurd without losing all its unpleasantness. We laughed at the relish Anne Ramsey brings to Mrs. Lift’s bullying, then felt slightly mean for enjoying the hostility. That is a useful response for a black comedy to provoke, and the performance gets there without asking us to find the character secretly agreeable. Barry Sonnenfeld’s cinematography suits Danny DeVito’s restless approach to visual comedy. The images feel as agitated as the people, which is effective until another piece of visual business starts competing with an actor we would rather watch. Ida Random’s production design is less insistent, giving the performances surroundings that do not demand equal attention. That restraint helps. The direction is funniest when it lets a difficult personality dominate the picture without trying to make everything around them funny too. Michael Jablow’s editing has a harder job with the action, where briskness sometimes becomes confusion. We can feel the effort to keep everything moving, but speed does not always help us follow the joke. David Newman’s score contributes to that forward push without being the part of the comedy that stays in the memory. These passages are less amusing than the dialogue around them, although they rarely last long enough to derail the film. At 88 minutes, the unevenness never becomes a test of endurance. The larger weakness is in Stu Silver’s handling of the dark premise. A crime comedy needs its characters’ foolishness to make the next complication seem possible, however unlikely it would be outside the film. Here, another difficulty sometimes seems to arrive simply because the story needs one. The performers remain enjoyable, but the writing does not always make their behaviour convincing, and the frantic direction makes that problem harder to overlook. There is enough comic spite here to make the film worthwhile for those who like their farce ill-tempered. Anne Ramsey makes the weaker stretches easier to forgive, though anyone looking for a tightly worked crime plot will have more to object to. The central performances deserve the attention that the action occasionally distracts from them. Try it for the actors, with some tolerance for the commotion. *Fi1m score 68, published 4 October 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews lean towards qualified approval, with praise concentrated on the performances and the comedy’s nastier impulses. Variety finds it clever and engaging, singling out Anne Ramsey’s comic impact. Radio Times praises the inventive dialogue and the accomplished performances of DeVito and Crystal. The Los Angeles Times also values the ensemble, while finding more thought behind the Hitchcock parody than might be expected and admiring DeVito’s manic visual style. The reservations concern how well that energy holds together, and the available verdicts span considerable enthusiasm to firm dislike. The Los Angeles Times finds the action scenes disorderly; Empire goes further, judging the comedy limp and its dark premise poorly established. Ramsey provides a point of agreement even there, with Empire praising her relish in the mother’s role. Two of the six reviews lack verifiable verdicts in the available text, limiting how fully the apparent middle ground can be described. ## Straight answers **Is Throw Momma from the Train worth watching?** *Throw Momma from the Train* is worth considering if we enjoy ill-tempered farce and strong comic performances; we score it 68 out of 100. Anne Ramsey’s domineering mother supplies the sharpest laughs, while Danny DeVito and Billy Crystal make an enjoyable pairing, but the untidy crime plot and frantic action need some tolerance. **How long is Throw Momma from the Train, and what is it rated?** *Throw Momma from the Train* runs 1h 28m and is rated PG-13 by the MPA in the US. It is a comedy and crime film. **Where can I watch Throw Momma from the Train in the US?** *Throw Momma from the Train* is streaming on Amazon Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Tubi and Apple TV in the US, and it is also available to rent from Apple TV from $3.99. It leaves Tubi on 1 October. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is Throw Momma from the Train, and is it suitable for children?** *Throw Momma from the Train* has a UK 15 certificate, so it is not suitable for children under 15. Its black comedy involves criminal intentions, bullying and family hostility; we find the nastiness often funny, but sometimes unpleasant. The certificate is the clearest guide here, since we cannot establish the intensity of violence or scares from those elements alone. **How does Throw Momma from the Train compare to Strangers on a Train?** *Throw Momma from the Train* offers ill-tempered comic farce, while [*Strangers on a Train*](https://film.one/film/strangers-on-a-train) is the stronger choice for a tense, less forgiving thriller about a dangerous friendship. We recommend the former for Anne Ramsey’s bullying mother and the central comic pairing; the latter draws its unease from Robert Walker’s charm, though its plot also leans on coincidence. **What should I watch after Throw Momma from the Train?** After *Throw Momma from the Train*, try [*Strangers on a Train*](https://film.one/film/strangers-on-a-train) (1951, Fi1m 86): For a considerably less forgiving account of a dangerous new friendship. Then [*The Ladykillers*](https://film.one/film/the-ladykillers) (1955, Fi1m 86): Another formidable older woman makes life difficult for men considering murder; and [*Delicatessen*](https://film.one/film/delicatessen) (1991, Fi1m 83): Domestic grotesquerie and murderous appetites, with more care over the surroundings. ### Reviews we read (6) - **Variety**, Variety Staff (85/100, inferred): The review calls the comedy clever, engaging, and delightfully venal. It singles out Anne Ramsey for scene-stealing comic impact. [Read](https://variety.com/1986/film/reviews/throw-momma-from-the-train-1200427046/) - **Radio Times**, John Marriott (4/5): Marriott describes the film as an assured, zany comedy. He praises its creative dialogue and the accomplished performances by DeVito and Crystal. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-5jfng2/throw-momma-from-the-train/) - **Los Angeles Times**, MICHAEL WILMINGTON (65/100, inferred): Wilmington finds the film energetic, funny and more thoughtful than a typical Hitchcock parody, though its action scenes feel helter-skelter. He especially praises DeVito’s manic visual style and the cast’s ensemble performances. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-12-11-ca-18630-story.html) - **RogerEbert.com** (64/100, inferred): The page is blocked, so the critic’s verdict cannot be determined. No praise or complaint can be verified from the available text. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/throw-momma-from-the-train-1987) - **Time Out**, GA (64/100, inferred): The page identifies this as a film review, but its verdict is not available in the provided text. The available description introduces the premise rather than singling out an element of praise or criticism. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/throw-momma-from-the-train) - **Empire**, William Thomas (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the comedy limp and its dark premise poorly established. Anne Ramsey’s relish in playing the domineering mother is singled out as the film’s best feature. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/throw-momma-train-review/) ## Details - **Director:** Danny DeVito - **Director:** Danny DeVito - **Writer:** Stu Silver - **Cinematography:** Barry Sonnenfeld - **Editor:** Michael Jablow - **Music:** David Newman - **Production design:** Ida Random - **Costume design:** Marilyn Vance - **Producer:** Larry Brezner - **Cast:** Danny DeVito as Owen Lift; Billy Crystal as Larry Donner; Kim Greist as Beth Ryan; Anne Ramsey as Mrs. Lift; Kate Mulgrew as Margaret Donner; Branford Marsalis as Lester; Rob Reiner as Joel; Bruce Kirby as Detective DeBenedetto - **Runtime:** 1h 28m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13 - **Release (the US):** 11 December 1987 - **Genres:** Comedy, Crime, Thriller - **Budget:** $14 million - **Box office:** $58 million ## Where to watch in the US - Amazon Prime Video: streaming - The Roku Channel: free, hd - Tubi: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Apple TV: add-on, hd - Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd - Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd *Checked 2026-10-04.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1988: Best Supporting Actress (nominated) ## If you liked this - *Strangers on a Train* (1951), Fi1m 86: For a considerably less forgiving account of a dangerous new friendship — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/strangers-on-a-train.md) - *The Ladykillers* (1955), Fi1m 86: Another formidable older woman makes life difficult for men considering murder — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-ladykillers.md) - *Delicatessen* (1991), Fi1m 83: Domestic grotesquerie and murderous appetites, with more care over the surroundings — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/delicatessen.md) - *Serial Mom* (1994): A suburban mother’s standards become everybody else’s problem in this nastier comedy - *The Death of a Bureaucrat* (1966): More frantic black comedy, where official procedure proves as troublesome as death --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/throw-momma-from-the-train