Runtime:
99 minutes
Directed
by: Bobcat Goldthwait (yes, him)
Starring:
Robin Williams, Daryl Sabara, Alexis Gilmore, Geoff Pierson
From:
Darko Entertainment
Would
you believe that the guy who is probably best known as Zed from some
Police Academy movies and having a wacky movie persona and once lit
Jay Leno's couch on fire on The Tonight Show 20 years ago is now a
renowned independent director? It's surprising to me too but I had
never seen any of the movies he has directed yet, until I decided to
go see his new movie, God Bless America, a film that I swear wasn't
written by me but it might as well have. I actually will watch that
Wednesday night and I'll do a review on that the night after, but I
first should watch the big movie he did before God Bless America. As
it was on Netflix, it was perfect for me to watch it tonight.
I
don't want to give too much away with the plot as a big thing with
this real dark comedy/drama film is that you shouldn't go into it
with too many conceptions as to what you think it's about as there
are various surprises along the way. I'll try to be brief, though:
Williams plays Lance, a poetry teacher at a high school who tries to
be a published writer but has no luck with that. His life is mostly
crappy: his son is a 15 year old terror (Sabara, i.e. one of the Spy
Kids but this character is a 180 from that), his class isn't popular,
he has a much younger galpal but their relationship is secret and the
girl (Gilmore) doesn't seem to always reciprocate the love. He is a
weak sort who gets walked over, in other words.
THEN,
something major happens in the film. Without spoiling things, it
really changes things and through that Bobcat says a lot of things
about such topics as hero worshipping, being true to yourself, how
dumb teenagers act in general, and dealing with grief.
In
what may surprise people, Robin Williams delivers a legit great
performance that is far and away from his usual manic persona;
instead it's subdued and mature and he is able to deliver while
expressing a multitude of emotions and he also says a lot when he
doesn't say anything at all, if you get what I'm saying. Sabara also
does a great job in playing the worst kind of disrespectful rude
awful teenager. You'll definitely hate the character but in the right
way.
If
you can watch a challenging movie that goes some dark places and
presents uncomfortable situations and yet is funny in delivering dark
humor, then this is a must-see.
Like
I said I'll be back Thursday night.
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