Worst Robin Williams movie?

Cafe Society
1

You know Robin Williams, the gifted comedian/actor. He has turned in memorable performances in such movies as Good Morning Vietnam, Good Will Hunting, and Dead Poets Society (the last two are probably my favorite movies that have him in them).

Looking over his IMDB entry, though, I also note a sizeable number of critical and/or commercial bombs. Some lowlights from Mr. Williams career:

Popeye: Almost universally drubbed by critics and a box office failure too IIRC. At the time I enjoyed the attempt to recreate a beloved cartoon in live action, although I recognized the movie had flaws. Haven’t seen it since it came out.

Club Paradise: Saw this one when it came out too, and seem to remember it was a stinkeroo, but I barely remember it. Anyone with a better recollection?

Cadillac Man: Wasn’t terrible but I don’t think it was a huge hit either.

Hook: Another (IMHO) misunderstood work. Far be it from me to defend Spielberg but I thought this movie at least had an interesting premise. Critics and the public vehemently disagreed. I thought Dustin Hoffman was a hoot.

Toys: Never saw this but I seem to remember people praising the"look" of the film and almost nothing else. Anyone else see it?

Patch Adams: This would probably be my nomination for Worst Movie with Robin Williams In It. Hackneyed and predictable…Good Morning Vietnam goes to medical school.

Jakob the Liar: I realize I know nothing about this movie except I think I have read low opinions of it on this board. How about it, good or bad?

Bicentennial Man: I have seen Mr. Williams during interviews joke about how bad this one is, or at least how poorly it performed at the box office. Never saw it.

Death to Smoochy: Another I-haven’t-seen-it-but-seem-to-recall-bad-things-being-said-about-it-on-this-board one.

So what IYHO is the Worst Movie that has Robin Williams in it? Not necessarily the movie that contains his worst performance, but the worst movie he appears in. For the purposes of this discussion you are also allowed to consider movies in which he does only voice work, is uncredited or uses a pseudonym. His IMDB entry is here if you need some help:

Can anyone top Patch Adams?

2

It seems like everyone I know love Patch Adams. Personally, I found it boring.

But I loved Hook. Then again, I was pretty young when it came out, but I loved it.

3

My vote goes for “Toys”. I’ve seen better film in soap dishes.

4

I’m going to have to go with a tie between that feel-good god-awful dreck Patch Adams and that supposedly-life-affirming feel-good god-awful dreck Bicentenial Man. I actually watched both just to say I saw them all the way through, thinking “it’s sort of funny because it’s not funny”. They were just awful, awful movies that seemed to follow a sacchrine formula as closely as they could. Although, to be honest, Dead Poet’s Society followed the same formula but only sucked half as much as the others.

5

I saw Toys, which was just [Best Fake English Accent]UTTER CRAP[/BFEA].

6

Toys was pretty bad, but did anyone see Being Human

I think that film pretty much ruined any hope that Bill Forsythe, who directed one of my most favorite films Local Hero from ever working in Hollywood again.

7

Hey now! I loved Toys when I was younger and still enjoy it. It has neat visuals, a fun premise (mostly, it does go downhill in a big way) and LL Cool J having a fantastic time. I love his couch disguise.

Now, Patch Adams… there was a bad movie that every one of my mother’s friends found So Profound.

Anybody else see What Dreams May Come? A simply beautiful movie, that should have been a good movie also but most certainly was not, for a lot of overconvoluted plot reasons. But lovely!

8

“What Things May Come” was the worst Robin Williams movie ever!!! Sheer boredom from beginning to end of movie.

9

I liked *Patch Adams * OK. I’m surprised no one mentioned Jumanji.

10

I’ve seen all the films mentioned, and with all due respect to contrary opinions, anyone who says anything other than “Toys” is just wrong. “Toys” was indescribably bad. I hated “Patch Adams” and “Jumanji,” and “Hook” was not very good, and “Bicentennial Man” was bad, but they were FIFTY times better than “Toys.”

My buddy and I went to see “Toys” and walked out shellshocked. As we took a pee, a kid, maybe ten, comes in to do the same thing. I tell my buddy, “Boy, that movie really sucked.”

The ten-year old suddenly pipes up, “I wish instead of seeing Toys, I spent the money on real toys.”

Just about sums it up.

11

“Worst Robin William movie?” Hmmm, kinda like asking me if I hated the poke in the left eye with a sharp stick, or the poke in the right eye . . .

12

Dull. Had some neat ideas, and I thought the casting was great, but the plot failed to hold my attention.

Standard basic cable channel filler. Not good enough to pay money to see, but worth watching for free when there’s nothing else on.

Actually a pretty good movie. Tim Robbins was great.

I saw it at least three times in the theater. Not a great movie, but not deserving of the scorn it received.

I liked it. Great visual style, sweet, whimsical story line. I liked LL Cool J’s character, too. I think this was one of his first acting roles, and he was surprisingly good in it.

Didn’t see it, don’t plan to.

Ditto.

Ditto.

I loved this movie. Brilliant dark satire. In ten years time, this movie will have a cult following to rival Repo Man.

I’d say the worst Robin Williams movie that I’ve seen (barring the inevitable flashback .2 picoseconds after I hit “submit”) would be What Dreams May Come. Neat idea, neat look, fuckin’ stupid movie. Just didn’t work, and I can’t say precisely why. One of those weird things where the whole is not equal to the sum of its parts. I should watch it again just so I can have some more concrete reasons for why I disliked it. Spoilers for the movie:

One thing that I remember is that, when we saw Williams’ kids in the flashbacks, I somehow missed the fact that one of them was a girl. I thought he had two sons. So when his sexy Asian spirit guide was revealed to be one of his kids, I thought, “So his son got a sex change in the hereafter? That’s a remarkably progressive afterlife.” This isn’t one of the reasons I didn’t like the movie, I just thought it was funny.

13

Mrs. Doubtfire.

How can no one have mentioned Mrs Doubtfire? It was terrible. Not one laugh.

14

I myself would say Can I Do It 'Til I Need Glasses?, one of his earliest. Pretty bad stuff.

15

I think that Jumanji and Bicentennial Man deserve extra suckage points for totally missing the point of the stories they were based on.

16

Don’t be fooled. Death to Smoochy is one of the funniest movies Robin Williams has ever been in.

Jumanji has my vote for worst.

17

All these responses and no mention of two of his biggest stinkers - Jack and The Birdcage. I found [it]The Birdcage* to be full of gay cliches and conservative cliches and just all around insulting. Jack was unremittingly dumb.

StG

18

Patch Adams was unfunny, uncomfortable, and made no sense whatsoever.

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I loved toys when it first came out. Of course, I was in third grade and it was mind blowing eye candy for me. Now that I’m older, I can see that it had a screwed-up plot and syrupy moments.

20

What Dreams Might Come, sad, disturbing, with a unique shot of dead children laying in their coffins.

Horrid film.