Maybe JackaRoe (neat name, btw) is thinking of Burt Reynolds in Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (*But Were Afraid to Ask)*.
I don’t think people give Williams enough credit for the chances he takes in his choice of movies. There isn’t another major actor in Hollywood who has been in as many movies that discard the Hollywood formula for filmmaking. A lot of his movies are odd and therefore have a limited audience.
Sure he has made some mainstream stinkers, but what actor has not? He has also been in some of the most unusual movies to make it into the local multiplex in the last 20 years.
I would much rather that all of Hollywood had the same track record as far as good vs. bad as Williams as long as they also had the same ratio of standard vs. inventive. I get really tired of seeing the same movie released 5-6 times a year under different names. When you see a Williams movie, good or bad, you can usually at least count on at least seeing something different.
(Notice the “usually” and please don’t feel the need to point out the movies he has been in that are formulaic.
I think we are giving him about as much credit as he deserves, or a little more.
After a point, it is not taking chances as much as very bad choice in scripts.
Moscow on the Hudson was good. Aladdin was good. Everything else he has been in is either seriously flawed (like Good Morning, Viet Nam)or utter crap (like Mrs. Doubtfire, which struck me as a self-indulgent rationalization for dumping your wife in favor of the baby-sitter and pretending you did it for the benefit of your children). Or they are unwatchable, like What Dreams May Come.
Look, he is probably one of the best stand-up comics of all time (second only to Richard Pryor). But he cannot choose a good script, or will not work with directors who can stop him from chewing the scenery. A little nuance once in a while is a Good Thing.
My $.02 worth.
Regards,
Shodan
That’s an awfully sweeping statement, Shodan, about an awfully long list of films. Are you saying that every single one of his films except Aladdin and Moscow on the Hudson was “either seriously flawed or utter crap?” Have you even seen Insomnia?
“People who really like to watch movies?” As opposed to what? People who really like to taste movies?
Could you expand on that? I don’t see how you could possibly get that interpretation from that movie.
Well I can’t speak for anyone else but I didn’t mention these two movies in the OP because the thread is about his worst movie and I thought these two were generally highly regarded. Of the two I only saw Fisher King and mostly thought it could have lost 20 minutes or so and been a better movie for it. Maybe if Gilliam had gotten rid of an ending or two…
Re: Kentucky Fried Movie, IMDB doesn’t mention Williams as being in that one at all JackaRoe. Maybe you are thinking of a different actor?
Hmm, that one must have been like Clue, where they showed different endings at different showings. 'Coz in the version I saw, she kicked him out for being a goober, and he dressed up like an old woman because it was the only way he could spend more time with his kids. They didn’t even have a babysitter until the divorce. So, was the babysitter in your version really hot?
My take? Anything with Robin Williams is terrible, with the one possible exception being Insomnia…not a great movie, but at least he didn’t make it worse. I know Robin Williams is an acquired taste, but man! “I’m jumping around over here…now I’m jumping around over there…now I’m making crazy faces…now I’m talking really fast…now a squeaky voice…now a low voice…now a…” SHUT UP!!!
BRAIIINS!
You really have to look for 2 year old threads to resurrect.
Well, in all fairness, Williams has since made The Final Cut, House of D, Robots and RV, so there are plenty of new candidates… 
Yes, it was, but the big stylistic fingerprints on that one were Terry Gilliam’s, not Robin Williams’.
Interestingly enough, the movie Williams has slagged the most has been his best, Aladdin. Referring to a financial dispute with Disney, he said “The Mouse can’t pick up a check. That’s why he only has three fingers.”
I’ve gotta say Robots was a disappointment generally, and Williams in it was a disappointment specifically.
Movies he was actually quite good in:
Shakes the Clown
Adventures of Baron Munchhausen (Uncredited)
Dead AgainWorld According to Garp (If there was a problem, he wasn’t it)
The Birdcage (I particularly enjoyed his delivery of the line “Save room for coffee!”)
Popeye, you unappreciative of Segar’s Thimble-Theatre tasteless Philistines, is an excellent movie. Next to Leon Isaac Kennedy in the Penitentiary series, it is my all-time favorite guilty pleasure. Look! There’s Dennis Franz as one of the Roughhouse Boys! Did you know the Sweethaven set is tourist attraction?
I even like Olive Oyl singing Bluto’s praises: “He’s Large.” No one else gets the double entendre there?
This will get locked any minute, I’m sure, but while it’s here: I have some friends who really like Death to Smoochy. I wish that I could explain to them why instead of being funny, because it almost is, the film has some structural flaws and this deeply unpleasant feeling behind it that leave it creepy and confused. And it’s not just Jon Stewart’s haircut. Oh yeah- and since it’s in part a sendup of Barney the Dinosaur, the thing was made at least five years too late.
Most of the Robin Williams movies I’ve seen I’d put on about the same level–nice stories starring a great actor, that are unfortunately rather thin. I’ve seen What Dreams May Come–it was my first year of university and we were reading the [i[Divine Comedy* so someone thought this would be a good movie to tie into that. It was like reading Dante only without all the profound thoughts that make it worth reading.
Now I’m thinking I should go re-watch Alladin. At least that doesn’t pretend to be more profound than it is.
What Dreams May Come had a cool visual style, and that’s all I remember about it. I actually fell asleep. Incredibly boring.
**Jumanji ** has the distinctly creepy plot element, of a Great White Hunter stalking 2 little kids with an elephant gun. Other than that…it’s not very good. But RW isn’t the problem.
Odd that RW’s best work seems to be his non-comedies: Dead Poets, Good Will Hunting, Insomnia, One Hour Photo. Plus Aladdin. So I guess he’s fine, unless he’s on camera being funny.
Talented comedian, maybe, but “great actor?”
I think “Awakenings” was Robin William’s best movie. I’ve never seen another movie that did a better job of making you understand what it’s like to be a scientist/doctor. And Robin Williams did a great job portraying Oliver Sacks. A really unappreciated movie, and he never uses a single funny voice!
I have a theory that Robin Williams and Jim Carrey and similar talented but rudderless actors shouldn’t be allowed to chose their own movies, but rather roles should be chosen for them and they should be forced to perform at gunpoint.
My impression of the movies I’ve seen:
Robin Williams is not the main attraction:
Artificial Intelligence: AI - Not Good
Hamlet - Good, but he had a small role, a good director, and the writer wasn’t bad either.
Aladdin - This is his immortality
FernGully: The Last Rainforest - Straight to video before there was straight to video
Dead Again - I still love the movie
Adventures of Baron Munchausen - OK movie, but I don’t remember him in it (It has been a while)
Robin WIlliams as Mr. Sensative:
Jakob the Liar - OK, but paled compared to the very similar Life Is Beautiful
Patch Adams - Complete & utter waste of celuloid
What Dreams May Come - I didn’t love it, but I liked it better than most people here, it seems
Good Will Hunting - Hated it, and I didn’t understand the love from critics
Jack - interesting idea, they just needed a story to go with it
Being Human - OK, when does the story start?
Mrs. Doubtfire - Not the best, but far from the worst
Toys - Not good, but beter than the reviews here, IMHO, and LL stole the show
Awakenings - bored me into a coma
Dead Poets Society - Hated it, hated that so many seemed to love it
Just fun, family movies:
Flubber - Good for what it was
Jumanji - Not great, but not in "I want my money back territory
Hook - Saw it, liked it, and continue to like it
Popeye - I liked it better than most
And the rest
Cadillac Man - Saw it, didn’t throw anything at my tv screen, but I wouldn’t watch it again
Good Morning, Vietnam - Liked it, but didn’t understand the acclaim it recieved (Except for the soundtrack, which was groundbreaking in its way)
Club Paradise - Bad
Survivors - at least he was trying to be funny.
Garp - Didn’t like it, no sir
And the worst (just barely beating out Patch Adams)
Moscow on the Hudson - He took a Yacov Smirnoff routine and took what little was funny in it out, for almost two hours. It was early in his movie career, but a definite sign that there were bad movies to come.
Patch Adams does deserve honorable mention for helping perpetuate the fraud started by the subject of the film.
Oh, and “Mrs. Doubtfire” has gotta be the worst Robin Williams movie I’ve ever seen. Just stomach-churningly awful. But I haven’t seen “Patch Adams” and never plan to.
I hated “Dead Poet’s Society” too, but it became a little bit less awful when someone explained to me the subtext…the teacher was fucking the kid who commits suicide. Now at least the movie makes sense.