SPANKING THE MONKEY **

Anyone seeing "Spanking the Monkey" for the first time might think that David O Russell has since sold out, as this sharp little movie deals with masturbation (hence the title) and more significantly with mother/son incest. The son is an excellent Jeremy Davies and his still very attractive mother is Alberta Watson, who he is tasked with looking after one summer after she falls and fractures her leg.

Despite the potentially 'shocking' subject matter, this is an unusually up-front and darkly comic coming-of-age movie which showed considerable promise. I, for one, have remained a staunch Russell fan. The man may have moved into the mainstream but his films have remained whip-smart and uncompromising and this intelligent, likeable and surprisingly sexy picture makes for a very good introduction to his work.