The Watchers' Feelgood Films (Part 2)

Good afternoon! We hope this finds you well - as (in the UK, at least) the lockdown has been extended by "at least" another three weeks, we thought you might like some suggestions for something feelgood to watch over the weekend. So here are two more recommendations from The Watchers for films that'll give you the warm fuzzies.

Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)

Dir: Chris Columbus
Starring: Robin Williams, Sally Field, Pierce Brosnan, Harvey Fierstein, Lisa Jakub, Matthew Lawrence, and Mara Wilson

As a child, Disney’s Aladdin introduced me to Williams’s mighty vocal talents – and had me counting down the minutes until the Genie was next on screen – but Mrs. Doubtfire put a face to that voice, and I’ve been a Robin Williams fan ever since.

Just like Aladdin, this is Williams’s show. Whether it’s a one liner from Randi Mayem Singer and Leslie Dixon’s script (“Winston liked a drink; it was the drink that killed him… He got hit by a Guinness truck.”) or a moment of off-the-cuff improvisation (Williams reeling off impressions at the job centre), Williams is Mrs Doubtfire’s multi-million-dollar CGI special effects.

Williams is mostly remembered as a masterful comic actor, but anyone who has seen Dead Poets Society, Good Morning Vietnam, or Patch Adams knows the man had heavyweight acting chops. Mrs. Doubtfire will have you grinning from ear-to-ear, but it isn’t two hours of sickly-sweet optimism. Daniel Hillard’s love for his family never changes, but he comes to realise that their situation has changed, and there is nothing he can do to stop it, despite his best efforts in some Oscar-winning make-up. Williams makes the drama, the tears, both heartfelt and believable. Williams won the Best Supporting Actor award for Good Will Hunting at 1998’s Academy Awards, but he absolutely deserved a win back in 1993 with Mrs Doubtfire, if not earlier.

The supporting cast are all excellent: Sally Field is brilliant as a mother who first appears cold and detached, but is really trying to spare her children from the hurt of a family break up; Pierce Brosnan oozes oily charm as the new boyfriend on the scene; Polly Holliday is on typically fine form as the Ernie Wise to Williams’s Eric Morecambe; and none of the child actors (Lisa Jakub, Matthew Lawrence, and Mara Wilson) come across as annoying or petulant, a trap that many family films fall into.

Special mention to the soundtrack: B.B. King, Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Frankie Valli, and the song that got me into Aerosmith, 'Dude (Looks Like A Lady)', just some of the artists on an impressive list.

Mrs. Doubtfire is faultless; it is the perfect starting point for anyone who has never seen a Robin Williams film.

Matt

* * *

Galaxy Quest (1999)

Dir: Dean Parisot
Starring: Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, Justin Long, and Robin Sachs

Galaxy Quest is an exceptionally affectionate tribute/parody/spoof of 1960s Star Trek, and rabid sci-fi fandoms in general.

In the eighteen years since Galaxy Quest last aired on TV, the cast have been reduced to doing electronic store openings, and travelling to conventions to meet fans and do signings. When the egomaniacal lead Jason Nesmith agrees to do a solo gig, it causes outrage amongst the rest of the cast. However, due to a mix-up, instead of doing a fan video, Nesmith and- eventually- the rest of the cast find themselves on board a real alien ship and helping a polite race of aliens known as Thermians in their ongoing battle against the evil alien warlord General Sarris. But can the crew put their personal issues aside and survive to help the Thermians? 

The script, by David Howard and Robert Gordon, is full of great one-liners and quips and gives the actors some meaty stuff to deal with. Tim Allen is fantastic as the Shatner-esque Nesmith (a.k.a. Commander Peter Quincy Taggart), slicing the ham thick as he relives his glory days. He's not just a one-note character and you can't help but be on his side as the absurdities start to mount. Sigourney Weaver adds a great level of sass as Gwen DeMarco (a.k.a. Lieutenant Tawny Madison, whose job was just to repeat what the computer said in slightly different words) whilst Alan Rickman gives one of the best and most fun performances of his career as Alexander Dane (a.k.a. Dr. Lazarus), a Shakespearean actor reduced to playing an alien on television, despite getting five curtain calls for Richard III... 

Tony Shalhoub is great as Fred Kwan (a.k.a. Tech Sergeant Chen) who has become a bit of a space cadet in the intervening years, whilst Sam Rockwell gives an absolutely hilarious performance as Guy Fleegman, an actor who appeared in one episode of Galaxy Quest and died before the first ad break. He gets involved in the escapade and is in mortal fear that (as a literal red-shirt) he'll be the first to die. His hysteria mounts throughout, giving shades of Bill Paxton's amazing "game over, man" rant from Aliens. 

There's often a problem with satires or parodies/spoofs if their treatment of their source material is cruel or mean-spirited. Luckily, the parody in Galaxy Quest never feels like its just being done for a cheap laugh or to take the mick for the sake of doing so. It highlights some of the more ridiculous tropes of the sci-fi genre- such as inexplicably dangerous machinery placed randomly in a hallway (serving no logical purpose except to cause peril)- but also makes some sly points about the sexism female sci-fi stars get to face; Gwen's comment that her TV Guide interview spent six paragraphs talking about her breasts and little about her talent is still prescient even now (see Scarlett Johansson's frustration at constantly being asked about her underwear when playing Black Widow). 

So, what makes it feelgood? First of all, Rickman's performance. He's on top form as the bumptious luvvie who feels this is beneath him, yet there's an undeniable punch-the-air moment when he slips back into being Dr. Lazarus. The parody is funny but affectionate and never punches low. It's an ideal film for comedy and sci-fi fans and is considered something of a cult classic, twenty years from its original release. 

Perhaps the thing that makes it feelgood the most? Its philosophy. Never give up. Never surrender. 

Tez

Robin Williams (1951-2014)

Like many, we at The Watchers were absolutely devastated at the news that Robin Williams had died. The stand-up comedian and Oscar-winning actor passed away on Monday 11th July.

Borin in Chicago in 1951, Williams studied at the Juilliard School before performing stand-up in nightclubs. It was during one of these gigs that he was seen by the producers of Happy Days, who asked him to audition for a guest spot as an alien. The character of Mork from the planet Ork was originally conceived as a one-off, but Williams proved so popular they not only brought the character back, he received his own spin-off- Mork & Mindy- which ran for 94 episodes from 1978-1982, in which Williams would get to work with his own comedy icon Jonathan Winters.

Throughout the 1980s, Williams worked steadily in films such as the live-action version of Popeye (1980) and the screen adaptation of John Irving's The World According To Garp (1982) opposite Glenn Close and John Lithgow. In 1987, he starred as American DJ Adrian Cronauer in Barry Levinson's Good Morning, Vietnam. For his performance, he received the first of his Best Actor Oscar nominations and also won his second Golden Globe (his first being for Mork & Mindy). Williams rounded off the Eighties by playing inspirational English teacher John Keating in the moving and powerful Dead Poets Society, which would gain him a second Best Actor Oscar nomination.

However, had things gone to plan, he would have rounded the Eighties off in a much bigger way- he was offered the role of The Joker in Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and had accepted it whilst Jack Nicholson hesitated. Ultimately, as we know, Nicholson took the role. Williams was upset about this and later refused the role of The Riddler in Batman Forever (which was ultimately taken by Jim Carrey). 

The 1990s arguably saw Williams at the peak of his powers. His IMDB record shows 10 movies made between 1991 and 1992. These include Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King (his third and final Best Actor Oscar nomination), Hook (in which he played a grown-up Peter Pan) and Toys. He also provided the voice of Batty Koda in Ferngully: The Last Rainforest, his first foray into animated features. 

In 1992, he also provided the voice of the Genie for Disney's animated version of Aladdin. His quickfire schtick and wide variety of voices (such as Jack Nicholson, Groucho Marx, Rodney Dangerfield and Peter Lorre) are an absolute delight, apparently racking up over 16 hours of material due to his improvisation (which meant the film was ineligible for a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination as so much was ad-libbed). Also ineligible for Academy consideration (as the Academy does not recognise voice-only performances), Williams nonetheless won a special Golden Globe for his performance as well as a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.

1993 saw the release of Mrs. Doubtfire, an adaptation of Anne Fine's novel about a father who goes to extraordinary lengths to see his children when his marriage breaks down. For me, this is probably Williams' quintessential performance. He's screamingly funny in places yet can also break your heart. His anguish at being apart from his kids is writ large across the screen, yet the script gives him enough rein to indulge in some voicework- his interview with the unimpressed Anne Haney is particularly good- and broader comedic moments. He won another Golden Globe for his performance. He also has brilliant cameos in Nine Months (1995) and To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar (1995) and gives a strong lead performance in the fantasy family movie Jumanji (1995).

 In 1996, Williams took one of the main leads in The Birdcage, an American remake of the 1979 French film La Cage Aux Folles, about a gay cabaret owner and his drag queen companion (Nathan Lane) who agree to put up a false straight front so that their son can introduce them to his fiancée's right-wing moralistic parents (played by Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest). It's possibly the only film I've ever seen Williams upstaged in, by the absolutely hilarious Lane. But, like Mrs. Doubtfire, there are moments of pathos and drama amongst the camp and the glitter. 

Williams also took a small role in Kenneth Branagh's star-studded and uncut version of Hamlet (1996) and also played an absent-minded inventor in Flubber (1997). After three previous Oscar nominations, Williams finally struck gold in 1998, winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his searing turn as psychologist Sean Maguire opposite Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting. The scene in which Sean challenges Will about the nature of life- ending with the challenge 'your move, chief'- is absolutely gripping and moving at the same time. The 1990s rounded off with performances in What Dreams May Come, Patch Adams and Bicentennial Man (where he plays an android who wishes to become human)

In the early 2000s, Williams' career took a darker turn when he appeared in three psychological thrillers, effortlessly showcasing that he could play disturbed and dangerous as much as the comedic. In One Hour Photo (2002), he plays a shy loner who becomes obsessed with a family whose photos he develops. In Insomnia (2002), directed by Christopher Nolan, he plays a writer who is the prime suspect in a young woman's disappearance, and in the criminally underrated Death To Smoochy (2002), he plays a disgraced children's TV presenter who plans to bump off his replacement.

Throughout the 2000s, he balanced lightweight comedies (RV, License To Wed) with darker dramas (The Night Listener, The Final Cut) and voice work (Robots, Happy Feet). In 2006, he appeared as a waxwork of American President Theodore Roosevelt in Night At The Museum, reprising that role in the sequel Battle Of The Smithsonian and will appear in the third instalment Secret Of The Tomb, which completed filming earlier this year. He also appeared as American President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Lee Daniels' The Butler and starred in TV comedy The Crazy Ones opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Despite an impressive filmography, Williams also loved doing stand-up comedy. His madcap stream-of-consciousness rants are a wonder to behold. His 2009 stand-up Weapons Of Self Destruction is well worth a look. It's full of brilliant one-liners, dazzlingly filthy jokes, but he is also refreshingly and brutally honest about his history of substance abuse and alcoholism. 

For many people of my generation, Robin Williams was a comedy genius. The world will be a much less funny place without him in it. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this very sad time.

Tez