NETFLIX MOVIE REVIEW: RAIN MAN

KEVIN BURKE, Content Editor–

netflixmoviereview_logo_design

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.

+ posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

The Halt of Hollywood

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike for over 130 days after negotiations for their new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) fell through on May 1, 2023. The strike was authorized by a reported 97.85% of the guild. This led to protests occurring outside major production […]

An Overview Of The Summer’s Hottest Flicks

Whether you wanted something fun, something existential, or just wanted to see how bad The Flash was, this summer had just about anything you could ask for in theaters! For starters, it can’t be overlooked that the biggest headliner of this summer was the dual release everyone was talking about: Oppenheimer and Barbie, which was more lovingly called Barbenheimer. […]

MTV Video Music Awards 2023

The 2023 MTV Video Music Awards took place on September 12th, hosted by Nicki Minaj (She/Her). The three hour event featured many performances, including Olivia Rodrigo (She/Her), Doja Cat (She/Her), Nicki Minaj, Anitta (She/Her), Cardi B (She/Her) with Megan Thee Stallion (She/Her), and Shakira (She/Her). Olivia Rodrigo’s performance was particularly note-worthy due to the controversy […]