Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here. Angelus104 has had a chance to see the latest collaboration between Barry Levinson and Robin Williams. This is material that absolutely has the potential to make excellent points about where we are right now in our relationship with media, politicians, and the truth. Is this that movie? I’ll find out for myself next week. For now, here’s what this reader had to say:
Hey there Harry, long time reader of your site but this is the first time i've submitted anything. I just got home from an early screening of Man of the Year the new Robin Williams vehicle directed by Barry "Rain Man" Levinson. it was at the Universal screening room on 5th avenue in NYC. On to the film. First of all the the trailers are very misleading. my impression that this was going to be a political fish out of water story like Dave or a man changing the government story lie the American President. But its not. The beginning feels as if it will be that. The film is narrated by the Chris Walken character and he introduces us to Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams) and his cable news comedy show. And how one day someone in the audience says he should run for president and so he does. That's the first 2 minutes of the film. And from there till about the 45 minute mark, the point where Dobbs wins the election, it is the kind of movie I expected it to be. But there is where it takes a turn for the worst. See there is a subplot. A huge corporation has developed a electronic voting machine to prevent voting mistakes. But a few weeks before the election the programmer of the voting system, played by Laura Linney, discovers a glitch. That no matter how many times she votes for a challenger, that the president incumbent is winning. She of course reports this and of course the corporation covers it up. When she brings up again they send someone to her house and that person knocks her out and injects her with a bunch of illegal drugs. (she doesn't remember this in the morning) So when she goes to work she's all high and she gets taken to the hospital and then fired because of her "drug" problem. Well its spirals into some pseudo political thriller where she is trying to avoid these corporate henchmen while trying to tell Dobbs about the fraud. It is needless and really poorly done. There are some very good performances here. Walken of course is very solid and very funny. He is never playing a caricature here, he feels like an authentic person. And Lewis Black who was fantastic in Accepted is also great here proving that he can translate his manic comic style into an effective film performance. I like Robin Williams in the film. He is still often caught mugging and just being too over the top but in the gaps between that, when he is just playing a guy who cares and a man confronted with the issue of having this new responsibility he is subtle and wonderful. That being said when he is being his "funny" self its just not that funny. The film really suffers because well he isn't as funny as Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert. He seems dated and not like someone who would have the zeitgeist of a nation. The movie also just does not seem to know what it wants to be and its choppy pacing really doesn't help its cause. Overall definitely a miss for Levinson but a definite step up from RV for Williams. But cow dung ins a step up from that. you can call me ANGELUS104
