Robin Williams and The Fisher King

Finally a post that doesn't try to give some silly, unsubstantiated analysis of a film. This time, I pick on actors.

You see, sometimes there are actors that generally annoy me. Drew Barrymore is one. She generally picks terrible roles, and her persona off-screen seems to be a conglomeration of her characters on-screen.

Robin Williams is another of those actors that has always annoyed me. When I was a kid in the 80s, I loved him. Mork and Mindy was great, and Popeye (1980) was awesome. The way his forearms swelled always reminded me of my Dad’s strength. What do you want? I was four years old…I saw The World According to Garp (1982) when I was really young and didn’t really get most of it (Why did you let me watch that movie when I was eight, Mom?). And Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) is a wonderful film. Even Aladdin (1992) is my favorite Disney film, perhaps the only watchable one, because Robin Williams just goes crazy in it. Watching him on old talk shows is great, too, because he really is a spot-on, manic, funny man.

But then he started trying to act, and it all went downhill. Dead Poets Society (1989) was just overwrought and overly romantic. Awakenings (1990) was decent, but it kept beating me over the head with a silly message again and again. Cadillac Man (1990), Toys (1991), Hook (1992), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), and on and on goes the list of terrible films he has been involved in. And don’t even get me started on The Birdcage (1996). People kept trying to get me to see that movie, and I actually went with my parents, who freaked out at all of the homosexual stuff. I was embarrassed and couldn’t even laugh at the funny parts (which were limited anyway). Nathan Lane was the film’s only saving grace, and he was drowning in his own hamminess.

And then I saw Good Will Hunting (1997), and I didn’t even recognize this guy. Here, the story was good, the dialogue was good, and Robin Williams was actually quite powerful. He wasn’t even trying to make me laugh, and he was pulling it off. But then he went right back to the schlock of Patch Adams (1998), Jakob the Liar (1999), and Bicententnial Man (1999). Until Insomnia (2002), where he again shined. He was convincing, and the film was good (probably due to the great director and Al Pacino more than anything else).

Now I just watched The Fisher King (1991) for the first time since it came out. I remember liking it fourteen years ago, but it didn’t make a huge impression on me. This time, it did. Sure, it’s a bit hokey, and everything is wrapped up too quickly at the end, but the plot is great, the actors are great, and it isn’t just completely cheesy with one-dimensional characters. Even, gasp! Robin Williams is spectacular in it. He’s kind of the same character in parts as the one he played in Patch Adams, but it works in this film. We see parts of him we don't see again for five years.

So it appears that Robin Williams made a good dramatic film fourteen years ago. Am I wrong about him, then? Should he be crossed off the list of annoying actors? Not yet.

Williams started on Laugh-In in 1977, and in nearly thirty years, he has been involved in 66 film or television products. That’s more than two a year! No wonder he bricks more than he scores! This guy can’t seem to turn down a film, even crappy ones. He just cranks them out like the terrible sausage they are, one after the other, until finally he gets a good one. And then back to the sausage mill he goes cranking out another five years of bad films.

So Williams, my advice is to be a little more choosy. One movie a year is plenty. Then maybe I will cross you off my annoying list.