Gavin's Eesti Life

I’ve recently taken up the challenge to watch a new movie every now and then (free time allowing) that I’ve not seen before and then blog about it. One extra part of the challenge is to link each film to the next via a shared cast or crew member.

Previous Movie: Tropic Thunder
Movie Link: Tom Cruise

Following on from a wonderfully fun performance from Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder, I’ve opted for Tom Cruise again, this time in a far more serious role as Charlie Babbitt in Rain Man.

As for every film on this list, I had never seen Rain Man before but always felt it was one of those films that I really should have already seen. I’m not surprised to have really enjoyed Rain Man, although the film presents some challenging themes, it never really over steps into uncomfortable territory.

Tom Cruise plays the exact character you’d expect him to play here, I certainly get the impression that a lot of himself went into this role.

The star of this film is of course Dustin Hoffman as Charlie Babbitt’s autistic savant brother Raymond, who Charlie didn’t know about. It’s interesting to note that while watching this film it’s hard to forget about Robert Downey Jr’s monologue about going “full retard” from my last film, Tropic Thunder.

Dustin Hoffman is brilliant in the role of Raymond Babbitt and there was never a point where I felt I was seeing the real Dustin Hoffman return to the surface.

I get the feeling that Hoffman and Cruise had an excellent rapport together, as they had some excellent scenes together. Especially of note is the scene where Charlie finally realises who Rain Man is.

Valeria Golino is delightful as Charlie’s girlfriend Susanna. She is the moral grounding for Charlie Babbitt and it’s no surprise when she returns near to the end of the film to help reign in Charlie. I have only ever seen Valeria Golino before in the Hot Shots movies, I really enjoyed her performance here. It’s a real shame that I haven’t seen her in more movies, but after a quick glance at her CV on IMDB it looks like there’s plenty for me out there to watch.

Verdict: 4/5

Rain Man is an excellent movie, that I would recommend everyone watches. It certainly has a very “Hollywood” feel about it though, as despite some low points from Charlie, the movie isn’t anywhere near as emotionally challenging as it could have been.

Check back soon to see which star or crew member will be in the next film I watch.

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Movie Links by Gavin