# Insomnia (Bad film with Robin Willliams) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-bad-film-with-robin-willliams/107663 "2002-05-07T04:21:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-bad-film-with-robin-willliams/107663/1 "2002-05-07T04:21:11Z")
So, Holywood is short of ideas. They decide to remake a [film from Norway](http://dontcloseyoureyes.warnerbros.com). And, of course, it’s totally _original_. Oh well. The original was pretty good by the way. I Norsk og Svensk!🆒 Note : Fixed link. - E. ---
**Author:** ![Hodge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Hodge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hodge)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-bad-film-with-robin-willliams/107663/2 "2002-05-07T11:22:42Z")
So…have you even _seen_ the remake? Although the presence of Robin Williams fills me with foreboding and I don’t think Al Pacino can match Stellan Skarsgård’s fiercely internal performance, I’m very interested to see what the director, Christopher Nolan, is capable of doing with the material. His movie _Memento_ was, afterall, the best and most original of last year. For that reason alone, I’m unwilling to dismiss the remake outright. Of course, I may be overly optimistic. Hollywood has a long tradition of butchering European thrillers (_Nightwatch_ and _The Vanishing_ come to mind). ---
**Author:** ![madcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@madcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madcat)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-bad-film-with-robin-willliams/107663/3 "2002-05-07T14:54:09Z")
Isn’t ‘bad film with Robin Williams’ redundant? ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Baroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/76d3ee/32.png) [@Billy\_Baroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Baroo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-bad-film-with-robin-willliams/107663/4 "2002-05-07T17:30:26Z")
Well, Williams is playing a murderer, so he’s at least breaking away from the _Patch Adams_ ilk. Hilary Swank as the desk clerk? Me likey. I’m looking forward to seeing both what Nolan does with it, and the principal performances. Me not needing subtitles will be nice. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-bad-film-with-robin-willliams/107663/5 "2002-05-07T22:53:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Billy Baroo \* > **Well, Williams is playing a murderer, so he’s at least breaking away from the _Patch Adams_ ilk.** What! He’s not playing a professor or a doctor? ---
**Author:** ![ScriptAnalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@ScriptAnalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScriptAnalyst)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-bad-film-with-robin-willliams/107663/6 "2002-05-07T23:10:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hodge \* > \*\*So…have you even _seen_ the remake? \*\* You needn’t see the remake to know that it’s a bad idea to take the wonderful original and redo it with Robin Williams. Of course, bad ideas have yielded unexpectedly good results in the past, so who knows? ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2002, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-bad-film-with-robin-willliams/107663/7 "2002-05-07T23:24:29Z")
As much as I’d like to follow Christopher Nolan’s career, I won’t be watching this one. Why? I would find it hard to believe that so much goes on in Nightmute, AK that they would need, like, two homicide detectives on the case. (At least [Nightmute](http://www.ilovealaska.com/Alaska/Nightmute/) is a real town, unlike Mystery or Cicely.) I’m afraid I’ll be aggravated if the movie shows people drinking liquor or using indoor plumbing, since those would be major bloopers. ---
**Author:** ![Jurhael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@Jurhael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurhael)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-bad-film-with-robin-willliams/107663/8 "2002-05-08T02:17:22Z")
Robin Williams as a villian…right? Guess there’s a first time for everything… ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-bad-film-with-robin-willliams/107663/9 "2002-05-08T02:34:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jurhael \* > \*\*Robin Williams as a villian…right? > > Guess there’s a first time for everything… \*\* He was recently in a movie as a quiet but deranged clerk developing film at a store in the mall. You know, I saw a rerun on cable of “Good Morning Vietnam” a few days ago. I was pleasantly reminded of the good old days when Robin Williams didn’t annoy the living shit out of me. ---
**Author:** ![Arken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Arken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arken)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-bad-film-with-robin-willliams/107663/10 "2002-05-08T03:02:51Z")
I think Robin Williams is just fine when he doesn’t try to be funny. He was trained in Julliard as an actor. He is a decent actor too. Unfortunately… very unfortunately… he thinks he’s funny. Then again, so (for some reason) does Bruce Villanche and he’s rolling in dough so they must be doing something right. ---
**Author:** ![quixotic78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3ab097/32.png) [@quixotic78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quixotic78)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-bad-film-with-robin-willliams/107663/11 "2002-05-08T15:13:23Z")
Heh, I just saw _The World According to Garp_ for the first time yesterday, so this Robin Williams bashing took me by surprise. Then, someone mentioned _Patch Adams_, and it aaaalllllllllllll fell into place. ---
**Author:** ![Billy\_Baroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/76d3ee/32.png) [@Billy\_Baroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billy_Baroo)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-bad-film-with-robin-willliams/107663/12 "2002-05-08T15:49:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arken \* > \*\*I think Robin Williams is just fine when he doesn’t try to be funny. He was trained in Julliard as an actor. He is a decent actor too. Unfortunately… very unfortunately… he thinks he’s funny. > \*\* Alright, I’m calling foul. Mork is one of the funniest motherfuckers on Earth. What planet are you from? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2002, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-bad-film-with-robin-willliams/107663/13 "2002-05-10T00:03:24Z")
Better brace yourselves. Williams will be playing multiple roles in the 2003 remake of _Kind Hearts and Coronets_, following (or should I say pratfalling?) in Alec Guiness’s footsteps.