Rain Man (1988)

Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

After all these years, Rain Man is compellingly watchable, and refreshingly well acted and written. The character of Charlie Babbitt is complex and deeply fascinating - a generally decent, loving guy buried with anger, a need to prove himself, and a reservoir of resentment from feeling unloved. He's an archetype for the Fight Club generation, and played to absolute perfection by Tom Cruise in what is surely his best role. I can't think of a modern young actor who could play this role as well as he does - Cumberbatch, Matthew Goode, Gosling, Reynolds - they just don't have that same fiery intensity and nuance. You can see Cruise thinking while someone else is talking. I actually didn't care too much for Hoffman's performance, its a tough one but more of a caricature once he's in that zone (a bit like Franco impersonating Tommy Wiseau). Anyway, back to the film. Generally brilliant, some excellent scenes, and a really classy opening. I feel it becomes a bit incongruent towards the end though. First Charlie exploits Raymond's skill at the casino, making back the money he needs (this is supposed to be a happy solution for Charlie, despite being against the film's supposed moral backbone). Valerie Golino then basically goes completely against her strong morals by somehow making her way to Vegas and finding Charlie again, just because she's out of a job. What was she hoping for? The one guy who's selfishness and neglect just lost her a job.. and she goes right back to him. Then, she sexually assaults ol' Raymond in an elevator. Then they let him DRIVE A CAR out in public, lolling as he crashes over curbs. This is all just before Charlie has his little discussion with the care home manager, where he doesn't listen AT ALL to what the guy is saying and is being more flippant and obtuse than he has been throughout the whole film. Its a strange unravelling of what the set up had promised, and I felt it could have been written so much better. It just felt rushed (and directed without any finesse).

This picture cracks me up every time I watch it. The toothpick scene in the diner is simply classic to me, topped off by that 'four left in the box' admission by the waitress."I've got Jeopardy at five o'clock" would have been my summary line under normal circumstances for this film, but this wasn't an ordinary movie. When Charlie Babbit (Tom Cruise) proclaims that he likes having Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) as his big brother, it was the completion of a transformation that gradually occurred over the course of the story. Cruise's character starts out in the story as a scheming, money worshiping egomaniac, and is subtly moved to accept and love an autistic brother he never knew he had. One probably has to suspend some disbelief over that circumstance, but the way it's explained in the story makes the idea at least somewhat plausible. The revelation of Raymond as the 'Rain Man' is one of the movie's great creative touches.I know this, I would love to have been on the set while this picture was filming, just to see what outtakes never made it into the picture because of Hoffman's unique ability to portray the type of character Raymond was. But even better, I would have enjoyed seeing Hoffman stay in character off set to bedevil his co-star with repeated clueless observations that would have driven Tom Cruise crazy for real. Can you just picture it? "I've got Jeopardy at five o'clock".

After the death of his father, a young car dealer with a troubled childhood gets shocked by two pieces of information which are received simultaneously. He received next to nothing from his father's fortune and he has a brother who's existence was kept secret all his life. He begins a desperate attempt to convince the lawyers that he deserves half of the fortune by using his autistic brother as exchange but ends up bonding with him, while all the money are put on a distant plan.It's an interesting approach in terms of character and point of view changes which occur suddenly for an introverted person who thought only about himself. Due to the high quality of the two main actors and their execution, we're presented a very interesting and emotional story of an unexpected bond between two very different characters, despite the natural difficulties of one of them. Their adventures are described in great detail but unfortunately the action is pretty static and tends to become repetitive. Although trying hard to induce something different towards the end, the movie's finale is abrupt and predictable.It's a very good movie, especially when talking about acting and characters, but it left me with the impression that they could have done a bit more about the plot, especially when it comes to the final part. I was expecting a masterpiece, just like "A Beautiful Mind" which simply left me breathless, but it wasn't able to raise that high.

I have to trust Michael Caine on his opinion of Tom Cruise in Rain Man, describing the subtlety and intricacy that Cruise depicted accurately in his role of a brother kindling a relationship with his estranged brother. Cruise deserved the Oscar, but I love Hoffman's performance all the same.In the end, Rain Man is simple perfection. The realism and beauty in the screenplay is amazing. To portray a subtly developing relationship between brothers who have not known each other with such incredible emotion, is a feat that will rarely or never be achieved again. Silence of the Lambs (1991) depicted a perverted relationship between a psychopath and a scared detective, The Godfather (1972) depicted the violent relationships of a mafia family, and Chinatown (1974) depicted the twisted relationships of a screwed-up family, but Rain Man achieved described the brotherly relationship with universal truth and raw emotion. Rarely seen perfection makes an instant classic, but two of the greatest performances of the late century by Cruise and Hoffman only accentuate the relationship. Valeria Galino delivers a fine-tuned performance as the oddly erotic girlfriend who drives the brothers forward in an intensely interesting fashion.There's not much else to say except that the "my main man" scene is done with chilling perfection. The raw emotion gave me the chills and put me on the verge of tears. To evoke such emotion in the characters and the viewers is a monumental task. If any film did it right, this one did.