NETFLIX MOVIE REVIEW: RAIN MAN

06/19/2015

KEVIN BURKE, Content Editor–

For this week’s Netflix Movie Review™, I chose to watch 1988’s Rain Man, starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman.

Rain Man is a story about a man named Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) whose poor relationship and rotten feelings for his father resurfaces when he finds out that his father has died and left him next to nothing in his will.

Instead, the majority of his father’s estate had been given to Raymond Babbitt, Charlie’s older brother whom he had no idea even existed. Raymond is autistic and lives in a mental institution, but he possesses an incredible memory and great organizational skills, as well as being somewhat of a math genius.

Charlie decides to “kidnap” Raymond from the institution, and tells Raymond’s doctor that he’ll only return him if he receives half of his father’s estate. Raymond and Charlie then go on some crazy adventures filled with fun, frustration, and emotional growth that cements their life-long bond as loving brothers.

Now, if I’m being honest, this movie was just okay. I guess it was good, but I know I’m probably never going to watch it again.

Tom Cruise is just so annoyingly Tom Cruise, too. I think I actually hate him as an actor. I don’t know what it is, but every time I watch him on the screen I just think, “Ugh, you’re the worst.”

One scene that drove me crazy was the scene where Charlie discovers that Raymond is the “rain man,” and also why Raymond was sent away as a boy. In that scene, Charlie pieces together facts about Raymond’s past with very little information, and then audibly says his findings aloud solely for the benefit of us, as an audience. It just seemed extremely fake and unrealistic to me.

Rain Man was the highest grossing film of 1988 and took home four Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actor (Hoffman).

The Comment officially gives Rain Man two and a half stars out of five, and recommends you read reviews written by a less pretentious movie critic.

Kevin Burke is the Content Editor of The Comment. Follow him on Twitter at @ke7inburke.

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KEVIN BURKE, Content Editor–

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