Just watched “The Night Listener” with Robin Williams and Toni Collette, which might have been a total snoozer with lesser actors. As it was, it was an intense, interesting film. I’d give it about a 7 out of 10.
Robin Williams was great, but Toni Collette made the film. In this scene, she is going to try and kill him.
Like some people, I’m always trying to guess what’s going to happen next. People who don’t do that may actually derive more enjoyment from the movie and, in fact, be better people, but it goes against my nature. Films, books, random people you see on the Metro, they are all a quiz for me, a test between me and the world. Can I figure them out?
I thought it would be like One Hour Photo, which also starred Robin Williams and was a work of genius, weirdness throughout and then a denouement in the final seconds which was the best final seconds denouement since Citizen Kane. Usually I don’t even avoid spoilers, because I’m kind of a blabbermouth, but in that case, I will. One hour photo was a great movie.
Anyway, this was a little bit like that in that when you see Toni Collette in the final scene and she’s not blind at all and she’s telling the lady how her son lost his leg, you realized that none of it was for real, but it wasn’t the dramatic denouement of One Hour Photo, because that was totally a predictable ending.
Why is it I like Robin Williams doing serious movies, but with Jim Carrey I keep expecting him to devolve back into his comedic self? It makes it hard for me to watch. Although I have to admit “The Truman Show” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” were great movies, I think I’d have liked them even better without him.
With Bill Murray, I just don’t like his serious stuff at all. With “Lost in Translation” and “Broken Flowers,” the films ended with me wondering when the action was going to start. I’m not watching any more Bill Murray movies unless somebody can promise me it’s going to be funny.
I don’t know why. Some actors can cross genres, and some can’t.
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