Review of IMDb Top 250 Films - Rain Man (1988)

I intend to conduct a review of the top 250 films on the IMDb database. At a rate of two per month this will still take forever as the list constantly changes. I don't claim to be a very knowledgeable or intellectual film critic but have tremendous confidence in my ability to discern good direction, script and acting, and to expose films which have enjoyed / endured an undeserved reputation in my perhaps arrogant opinion. There may be a few minor spoilers in my reviews.

Rain Man - Rating: 4 out of 6

This film is a one-trick-pony about a man (Charlie Babbitt played by Tom Cruise) getting to know his autistic savant brother (Raymond Babbitt played by Dustin Hoffman); but it is to the cast and crew's credit that this very 1980s film surpasses the majority of such films of that decade (I'm thinking of the superficially similar Crocodile Dundee for instance which was immensely popular at the time but is actually very shallow and quite dire!)

It lacks pace, but given the subject matter could it really have done more to rid itself of the, at times, claustrophobic quality / lack of breeziness or joie de vivre? Probably not, but because of that it is no Tootsie (with which it compares unfavourably). Yet it makes up for it with some great acting (Cruise as much as Hoffmann, and I am no big fan of the former) which kept the viewer wanting more, and scenes which, although often showing rather stereotypical funny situations Raymond would end up in, were stylishly executed (again as opposed to Crocodile Dundee, which catered perhaps to a slightly less discerning audience). Once can sense the appeal that the funny sex-mimicing and 'airline crash' scenes ("Qantas has never crashed") would have had to the cinema-going audience.

This is not essential cinema by any means but, unlike many of the films I have been reviewing, this one stays consistently good, indeed perhaps improving towards the end, with some enjoyable scenes, notably in Las Vegas (the hooker, the dancing and the nice touch with the Wheel of Fortune when Raymond shows he is not infallible), the temporary role-reversal when Charlie learns the truth about the 'Rain Man', and when the two brothers make a semi-connection. The penultimate scene is just excellent courtesy of director Barry Levinson himself playing the psychiatrist, and I have just read on IMDb that "he adlibbed repeatedly to push Cruise's buttons"! Certainly as I was watching it I queried whether he was a professional actor so natural was his performance! The ending, of which that scene constitutes the start, is stylish and brave.

As with the rest of the cast, Valeria Golino is excellent (I just love her voice). The fact that they got rid of her for the middle of the film so that Raymond and Charlie could have their time together is an amusing and obvious contrivance. She brings a much-needed and very natural female presence into the film and her early scenes with Cruise are very well-done - notably in the car when she is chastising him for his silence.

I haven't given this film a higher rating because it never reaches excellence in any part (I cannot see Tom Cruise ever starring in a jaw-droppingly good film) and, although the lack of joie de vivre etc is not necessarily anybody's fault, the saving graces of artistic intelligence and courage / experimentation which would have compensated for it are almost by definition not to be found in a film intended to cater to a mass audience. This is good though and should be seen.

Review of IMDb Top 250 Films - His Girl Friday (1940)

I intend to conduct a review of the top 250 films on the IMDb database. At a rate of two per month this will still take forever as the list constantly changes. I don't claim to be a very knowledgeable or intellectual film critic but have tremendous confidence in my ability to discern good direction, script and acting, and to expose films which have enjoyed / endured an undeserved reputation in my perhaps arrogant opinion. There may be a few minor spoilers in my reviews.

His Girl Friday - Rating: 4.25 out of 6

There seems to be a pattern emerging with the films I am reviewing, in that they all start really really well and then lose it half way through. The first half or so of this third Cary Grant film I happen to be reviewing is of top-notch quality, and indeed the 14-minute opening scene in the newspaper office is perhaps the finest, freshest start to a film I have ever seen. The rapid-fire, razor-sharp contemporary dialogue may surprise the modern viewer who has cliched ideas about black and white films - but perversely nothing like it exists in films today. This is wonderful wonderful stuff. Similarly the following scene in the restaurant and, perhaps to a lesser extent, the following few scenes with (i) Walter / Bruce and (ii) the pressmen / Hildy / Molly Malloy. The reporters' change in attitude when Molly leaves the press room after telling the reporters what she thinks of them is worthy of particular note, so subtly is it portrayed: not one word is spoken yet we know what they are thinking.

So that covers the first 40 minutes of this 90 minute film. And then, just as with the last two Cary Grant films reviewed, it all goes a bit pear-shaped: the prisoner escapes, we have bullets, the pace increases the wit decreases (a little), and the host of minor characters (bureaucrats) and related subplots introduced hereabouts just don't work in (what was at least) such a tight little film concentrating on the interaction between three solid characters. Too madcap which makes it ironically a tad boring and dated (again ironically given the freshness of the script and the very undated quality of the first two scenes). Sergent Bilko (1950s admittedly) comes to mind. The significant plot contrivance resulting in the murderer being locked up in a trunk is another notable flaw.

Unfortunately the film does not recover its initial excellence and stays relatively mediocre until the end - though it is still more watchable than when Arsenic and Old Lace goes off the rails, and Grant and Rosalind Russell are superb throughout, the latter especially, and I'm pleased the latter's character made the choice she did at the end, an ending which doubtless upset many people, not least conservatives.