← Back to Reviews
in
Writer: Tom Schulman
Cast: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke
Genre: Drama
After hearing so much high praise for this movie, I have to say I was underwhelmed by it, and this is usually my type of movie. But nothing worked for me here, except the actual premise of 'seize the day', OK that was good, but the execution of that premise was hap hazard.
I didn't like Robin Williams in this. Robin was great as a stand up comic and had a fast paced witty mind, but in this movie, it's like he's not the character, but he's playing Robin Williams. He was great in his comic movies like Mrs. Doubtfire, but I just didn't buy him as this maverick teacher who could reach the kids. Other than telling them to rip pages out of a school book or standing on the desk, what is it he did that was so special. I think John Lithgow would have been a much better choice for the role, maybe even John Cleese.
And the script itself is lacking. I never felt like I got to know the students other than the one who wanted to be an actor. It was like they were all interchangeable.
The scenes seemed forced and I didn't buy many of them. I never bought into his teaching methods either...And the head school master was like a mustache twirling movie bad guy, and so was the father of the student who wanted to be an actor. Too cliched... Elia Kazan once said of movie characters, every bad guy character should have some redeeming quality that the audience can identify with and every good character should have a dark flaw. I thought a lot of the scenes were just silly and the characters were not fully realized.
Sorry but I don't get the love for this film, actually I do get it, it's the theme of young people finding themselves. I just don't think the movie did that very well.
-
Dead Poets Society (1989)
Director: Peter WeirWriter: Tom Schulman
Cast: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke
Genre: Drama
"English teacher John Keating inspires his students to look at poetry with a different perspective of authentic knowledge and feelings."
After hearing so much high praise for this movie, I have to say I was underwhelmed by it, and this is usually my type of movie. But nothing worked for me here, except the actual premise of 'seize the day', OK that was good, but the execution of that premise was hap hazard.
I didn't like Robin Williams in this. Robin was great as a stand up comic and had a fast paced witty mind, but in this movie, it's like he's not the character, but he's playing Robin Williams. He was great in his comic movies like Mrs. Doubtfire, but I just didn't buy him as this maverick teacher who could reach the kids. Other than telling them to rip pages out of a school book or standing on the desk, what is it he did that was so special. I think John Lithgow would have been a much better choice for the role, maybe even John Cleese.
And the script itself is lacking. I never felt like I got to know the students other than the one who wanted to be an actor. It was like they were all interchangeable.
The scenes seemed forced and I didn't buy many of them. I never bought into his teaching methods either...And the head school master was like a mustache twirling movie bad guy, and so was the father of the student who wanted to be an actor. Too cliched... Elia Kazan once said of movie characters, every bad guy character should have some redeeming quality that the audience can identify with and every good character should have a dark flaw. I thought a lot of the scenes were just silly and the characters were not fully realized.
Sorry but I don't get the love for this film, actually I do get it, it's the theme of young people finding themselves. I just don't think the movie did that very well.
-