Rain Man (1988) - Starring Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, Valeria Golino. Written by Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow. Directed by Barry Levinson. Rated R. Available on DVD.
Rain Man is a great movie. The performances are great, with Dustin Hoffman brilliantly playing an autistic savant. Tom Cruise doesn't stray far from the character he typically plays, but in this film, it works because that's what the character is meant to be like. It won an Oscar for Best Picture, and except for a few technology things (like a car phone) the film holds up.
I have two qualms about this movie though. First off, I felt it was overlong. At a 2 hour and 15 minute running time, it seemed to stretch certain scenes that definitely did not need to be stretched. The other thing that bothered me was a loose plot thread. The whole reason Cruise's character decides to take his brother (Hoffman) with him is in order to get money he felt he was cheated out of by his father. He wanted this in order to save his failing business. At the end of the film (spoiler alert), when he has his change of heart and wants to spend time with his brother regardless of the money, no mention is made of the business again. I realize he had a change of heart, but I would still be pretty worried about that business.
Other than that, it's a good film.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment