Part Of Rodent's 15 Review Marathon Of The 1980s Classics And Their Sequels
Review #149 (4th of 15): Rain Man
Charlie Babbit is a successful car dealer, but one of his deals is about to go awry and he has to take off across America to sort out the mess.
When news reaches him that his estranged father has died, he cancels the trip temporarily and goes to the Will Hearing, only to discover that he has an older brother he'd never heard of... a brother that will inherit all of his father's wealth.
Jealous and upset, he visits his brother in the hope that he can maybe twist him into giving up the inheritance and to investigate this disturbing turn of events, but finds out that Raymond is a Savant, or Autistic if you will, and he takes Raymond on his now un-cancelled trip across America to rediscover his past and his family and get his car deal sorted out...
... but things won't be as logistically simple or as emotionally easy as he thought with Rain Man by his side.
An absolutely fantastic film of self discovery and emotional connection comes from the minds of some of the best actors and filmmakers in the business.
Rain Man isn't just another simple odd-couple movie... it's a heartwrenching movie that also manages to be funny, painfully emotional and extremely intense in the turn of events that captures the feelings of family and love perfectly.
It's another movie that's based mainly around the acting but this time round it has one of the finest screenplays and actual character developments I've yet to see in any movie.
It's extremely believeable too. Unknown pasts and secretive families taking the forefront of the screenplay and the voyage of discovery that the main duo go down is very very well pieced together. The scenes when they go to a Casino are brilliantly funny too.
What makes the film stand out from any other film of it's kind, is the awesome screenplay. There are sequences of events and discovery that not just the cast go down, but the audience is taken down too.
It's almost an education in the subject of Autism and how the human mind works... the subject matters involved have definitely been well researched before being put to script. It's also handled with incredible care for detail and respect.
Very well done indeed.
The acting, not only is a surprise from Tom Cruise, is wonderful throughout.
Cruise in particular, like I just said is a surprise to be sure, but he's extremely real in the events that are unfolding around him. His feelings of regret, jealousy and occasional smarmy and slimy persona shine through greatly. His frustrations with Raymond are also felt by the viewer too.
Now, Dustin Hoffman as Raymond is an absolute gem in the movie world. Dustin's quiet, unassuming yet brilliantly intelligent character is not only annoying, but heart wrenchingly loveable and funny. Hoffman even won an Academy Award for his role. One of the finest performances going I'd say.
Back up comes in the forms of Valeria Golino and Jerry Molen but the movie really is all about Cruise and Hoffman on their road trip.
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All in all, the film lacks almost nothing... the performances, screenplay, script, soundtrack and especially the emotions the viewer is taken through are all incredibly powerful.
One of the best dramas from the best decade for movies, an absolute must see.
My rating: 100%
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