Review of Rain Man (1988) by Paulo Henrique O — 30 Mar 2014

More Dustin Hoffman? Let's do this. As you guys all probably know by now, Dustin Hoffman is without a doubt one of, if not my absolute, favorite actors. Everything he does is well-crafter, well-bound, well-acted. So awesome to watch him play characters you can't help but love, and not because they have great personalities or anything, but simply because they are all so fully relatable. As to that, though, I would not say that Raymond Babbit in this movie is as relatable. No, not because he is autistic, but because his mind works in ways no other does. His mind is one of pure genius, basically the opposite of autistic, and one that proves that autistic people can be great and are great. There are many performances out there of handicapped people that are convincing, and plenty of them winning Oscars. The idea to play a mentally handicapped person is well drawn out and well over done in this day and age, but if done right, they are phenomenal performances. From Daniel Day Lewis's Christy Brown to Tom Hank's Forrest Gump, it is hard to say which person pulls off the handicapped character best. But high up there, truly marking it in film history as one to remember, is Dustin Hoffman's Raymond Babbitt. It was strong, it was intense, and most of all, it was real, and I believed that Dustin Hoffman was this character. I wasn't watching Dustin Hoffman when I was watching this, no, I was watching Raymond Babbitt. Safe to say, Dustin Hoffman pulls off another phenomenal performance, and while I do think Hoffman's Benjamin Braddock is his best performance, this one comes to a close second. Geeze, Hoffman, you are one heck of a legend.

Getting my Hoffman fantacism out of the way, let's get into the movie. Rain Man is a 1988 drama-adventure film directed by Barry Levinson and starring Dustin Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Valeria Golino, and Gerald R. Molen. The film follows Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) and his brother, Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman), as they embark on a cross country road-trip to Los Angeles and begin a brotherly bond that grows into love. A little cheesy? Yes kind of, actually, for the weakest part of Rain Man is really in its script. The plot is one that does not really seem to interesting, and while the film is very engrossing, it's use of dialogue and language to portray Raymond is convincing, but for everyone else, not so much. The idea of the changing bond between Charlie and Raymond is very much predictable, but the scenes that the writers throw in to show that bond is heartfelt and different. The film as an entirety does not leave much in you as you leave it, but there is still plenty to like coming from it. I wish the film spent some more time in the casinos, though, for that was interesting. I also don't think they showcased Raymond's brilliance as much as they could have, and the film made it seem as if it was only a side not to show up sometimes throughout the film. I respect the film, though, for showing a lot of character development and bonding, for in the end of the film, I truly felt Cruise's character had loved Raymond, and that Cruise was a changed man. The writing also showed an ending that was not too predictable, and showed a darker ending rather than one that was happy and feel good. And yet, in the end of the movie, it felt good to know Charlie and Raymond had spent some bonding time together. To know that the two of them experienced like brothers and to love like brothers really hit me, for it is relatable to me and my twin brother. I felt the brotherly bond between the two was one to be happy and one to appreciate that it at least happened once between the two. It's a bond I know and felt was real as I watched it during the movie. Barry Levinson's direction was a bit weak, though, as well. It was solid direction, but it did not do much in terms of propelling the story forward and keeping the audience engaged. It was Hoffman, Cruise, and the plot that was doing that, and Levinson was simply taking the material and putting it on screen. The only times I can recall Levinson actually directing and putting vision in the film is when Hoffman's character freaks out. Levinson portrays this as dark and terrifying, making us feel disgusting and estranged. In those scenes, Levinson made the audience feel like Raymond felt, and I can appreciate that. Other than that, Levinson's direction straight-forward and to the point, not adding much to the movie and rather taking a theatrical experience from it.

Tom Cruise gives an electrical performance in this movie as a real douchebag. There's always that one mean, rude brother, and in my family, yeah, it's me. I feel bad about it, and Tom Cruise portray that brother really well. I think it's Tom Cruise best performance next to Jerry Maguire, and it definitely is his most authentic performances. Cruise definitely should've been nominated, if not won for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars. Cruise and Hoffman share great chemistry in this movie. It's the most convincing brother-to-brother bonding I've ever seen, and any scene where the two of them get closer, I feel closer. Hoffman basks in the glory of the acting for this movie, though. As stated, it's one of the greatest portrayals of autism ever put on film, and definitely the most real. Dustin Hoffman's character does not feel any emotion, and as the audience begs and begs for him to feel the love between him and Raymond, Hoffman is relentless and keeps his portrayal true. Dustin Hoffman slips out of his acting persona and rather embodies this character, completely becoming him. Real and harsh to watch at times, especially when Raymond goes into his episodes, Hoffman gives an excellent performance, and one I definitely will never forget.

Rain Man truly offers up something not many films can do. The themes of brotherhood, of change, of acceptance and of the idea that being handicapped does not mean you are inhumane are strong and prevalent throughout this movie. While the character and plots were predictable at times, the writing proved to change the conventional way of showing these heartfelt and expected scenes made them more heartfelt and enjoyable to watch. I do wish the writers showed us more of Raymond's genius. They hit on it at times, but it felt more like a side plot than a part of HOffman's true character. Barry Levinson's lack of style or density to his direction kept the viewer from having a theatrial experience, but at times Levinson does succeed in putting the audience in the shoes of the character and feeling their experiences. Tom Cruise gives one of his best performances of his career. When he was a jerk in the beginning, he was really a jerk, but when his character changed, Cruise changed with the character. He was believable and brutally honest, and so was Dustin Hoffman. Hoffman's performance as Raymond was real and ever so convincing. It was hard to watch, but nevertheless the audience was glued to their screens even more at those times. Without Hoffman, this film wouldn't have amounted to much and would've been another movie about an autistic person and his disability. But it wasn't. In the end, the movie was about how human emotion destroys the concept of disability. The film makes it a point to show that love is the strongest thing in the world, and that everyone, autistic or not, can feel and understand that emotion. 8/10.