Robin Williams

The Birdcage

The great improvisational comedy team of Mike Nichols and Elaine May reunited to (respectively) direct and write this update of the French comedy La Cage Aux Folles. Robin Williams stars as a gay Miami nightclub owner who is forced to play it straight and ask his drag-queen partner (Nathan Lane) to hide out when Williams's son invites his prospective--and highly conservative--in-laws and fiancée to a meet-and-greet dinner party. Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest play the straight-laced senator and his wife, and Calista Flockhart (from television's Ally McBeal) plays their daughter in a culture-clash with outrageous consequences. May's witty screenplay incorporates some pointed observations about the political landscape of the 1990s and takes a sensitive approach to the comedy's underlying drama. Topping off the action is Hank Azaria in a scene-stealing role as Williams's and Lane's flamboyant housekeeper, "Agador Spartacus." --Jeff Shannon

Lies and deception -- its all in the family when Robin Williams must convince conservative in-laws Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest that he is as upstanding and uptight as they are in this raucously funny comedy. Armand (Williams) and Albert (Nathan Lane) have built the perfect life for themselves tending to their successful and gaudy nightclub on the Miami strip. But their pastel tranquility is suddenly shaken by the arrival of Armands son... who is getting married to the daughter of ultra-conservative Senator Keeley (Hackman). Whats more the Senator and his wife (Wiest) are on the way over for dinner and expecting to meet Mr. and Mrs. Family Values!Starring: Robin Williams Gene Hackman Nathan Lane Diane Wiest Dan Futterman Calista Flockhart Hank AzariaDirector: Mike NicholsProduced by Mike Nichols Marcello Danon written by Elaine May; running time of 119 minutes; Closed Captioned. Copyright: 1996 MGM/UASystem Requirements:Interactive Menus Theatrical Trailer Video Format: Widescreen (no AR specified) Enhanced for 16x9 TVs Subtitles: English Spanish and French Track Info: English: Dolby Digital Surround Spanish: Dolby Digital Surround French: Dolby Digital SurroundFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 027616603395 Manufacturer No: M100538

Robin Williams - Live on Broadway

Sharper and deeper than Robin Williams's previous road material, Live on Broadway is a mature comedian's view of all things to do with power, prejudice, and paranoia in the 21st century. On the anthrax scare of 2001: "The Senate cleared out of their building but told the rest of us, 'Get on with your normal lives!'" On his solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over Jerusalem: "Time share!" On the pitfalls of America's deepening alliance with Britain: "The House of Commons is like Congress with a two-drink minimum." A viewer may have to slog through Williams's tedious breast fetishism, but patience is quickly rewarded with bitchy takes on Martha Stewart facing prison, solid satire about French existentialist judges at the Olympics, and subversive op-eds about the Bush administration's inability to clarify terrorist threats to the public ("Has the CIA become the Central Intuitive Agency?"). --Tom Keogh

Happy Feet (Full Screen Edition)

For anyone who thought the Oscar-winning documentary March of the Penguins was the most marvelous cinematic moment for these nomads of the south, you haven't seen nothing yet. Happy Feet is an animated wonder about a penguin named Mumble who can't sing, but can dance up a storm. George Miller, the driving force behind the Babe (and Mad Max) movies, takes another creative step in family entertainment with this big, beautiful, music-fueled film that will have kids and their parents dancing in the streets. From his first moment alive, Mumble (voiced Elijah Woods) feels the beat and can't stop dancing. Unfortunately, emperor penguins are all about finding their own heart song, and the dancing youngster--as cute as he is--is a misfit. Luckily, he bumps into little blue penguins and a Spanish-infused group (led by Robin Williams) and begins a series of adventures. Miller has an exceptional variety of entertainment: Busby Berkley musical numbers, amusement-park thrills, exciting chase sequences (seals and orca lovers might like think otherwise), and even an environmental message that doesn't weigh you down. Best of all, you don't know where the movie is going in the last act, a rare occurrence these days in family entertainment. A fusion of rock songs, mashed-up and otherwise, are featured; this movie is as much a musical as a comedy. Mumble's solo dance to a new version of Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" by Fantasia, Patti, and Yolanda may be the most joyful moment on camera in 2006. --Doug Thomas

On the DVD
There are two new animated sequences, which aren't incorporated into the film. One's a half-minute hackysack-themed bit, but the other is a good-looking, two-minute scene featuring the late Steve Irwin as an albatross, who, with Mumble, encounters a blue whale. "Dance Like a Penguin: Stomp to the Beat" is hosted by Savion Glover, whose dancing was motion-captured for the film, but other than a couple basic tips, it's pretty much a demonstration rather than a lesson. In addition to the two music videos (Gia's "Hit Me Up" and Prince's "The Song of the Heart"), "I Love to Singa" is an appropriately matched 1936 Merrie Melodies cartoon in which a young owl ruffles feathers by wanting to sing jazz for his classical-music-loving family. --David Horiuchi

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A young penguin named Mumbles cannot sing like the other penguins but can he can tap dance and he learns that being different can be good.
Genre: Feature Film Family
Rating: PG
Release Date: 4-SEP-2007
Media Type: DVD

Popeye

Nothing interests filmmaker Robert Altman more than a contained culture that mixes bare humanity with local eccentricity (think of his M*A*S*H and Nashville). So Altman's Popeye (1980), based on the old comic strip, works best as a portrait of a busy, cluttered, cartoonish town called Sweethaven. But it is much less successful as a comprehensible story about the famous sailor with massive forearms and a relationship with Olive Oyl (Shelley Duvall). Robin Williams plays Popeye with his usual brilliance for mimicry, Paul Dooley makes a credible Wimpy, and Paul L. Smith makes an impression as the oversized bully, Bluto. But this strange, disastrous film never becomes more than an expensive workshop airing out Altmanesque themes. --Tom Keogh

A musical version of the cartoon character, Popeye the Sailor Man.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 8-AUG-2006
Media Type: DVD

Patch Adams - Collector's Edition

Patch Adams raises two schools of thought: There are those who are inspired by the true story of a troubled man who finds happiness in helping others--a man set on changing the world and who may well accomplish the task. And then there are those who feel manipulated by this feel-good story, who want to smack the young medical student every time he begins his silly antics.

Staving off suicidal thoughts, Hunter Adams commits himself into a psychiatric ward, where he not only garners the nickname "Patch," but learns the joy in helping others. To this end, he decides to go to medical school, where he clashes with the staid conventions of the establishment as he attempts to inject humor and humanity into his treatment of the patients ("We need to start treating the patient as well as the disease," he declares throughout the film). Robin Williams, in the title role, is as charming as ever, although someone should tell him to broaden his range--the ever-cheerful do-gooder à la Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society is getting a little old. His sidekick Truman (Daniel London) steals the show with his gawky allure and eyebrows that threaten to overtake his lean face--he seems more real, which is odd considering that Patch Adams does exist and this film is based on his life. Monica Potter is the coolly reluctant love interest, and she makes the most of her one-dimensional part. While moments of true heartfelt emotion do come through, the major flaw of this film is that the good guys are just so gosh-darn good and the bad ones are just big meanies with no character development. Patch Adams, though, does provide the tears, the giggles, and the kooky folks who will keep you smiling at the end. --Jenny Brown

Meet Patch Adams (Academy Award-winner Robin Williams), a doctor who doesn't look, act or think like any doctor you've met before. For Patch, humor is the best medicine, and he's willing to do just about anything to make his patients laugh - even if it means risking his own career. Based on a true story, Patch Adams combines sidesplitting humor with an inspiring story that transcends the traditional comedy.

Bicentennial Man

The Martin family purchased Andrew, an android, they soon discover that he is one extraordinary droid.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: PG
Release Date: 6-MAY-2003
Media Type: DVD

Bicentennial Man was stung at the 1999 box office, due no doubt in part to poor timing during a backlash against Robin Williams and his treacly performances in two other, then-recent releases, Jakob the Liar and Patch Adams. But this near-approximation of a science fiction epic, based on works by Isaac Asimov and directed, with uncharacteristic seriousness of purpose, by Chris Columbus (Mrs. Doubtfire), is much better than one would have known from the knee-jerk negativity and box-office indifference.

Williams plays Andrew, a robot programmed for domestic chores and sold to an upper-middle-class family, the Martins, in the year 2005. The family patriarch (Sam Neill) recognizes and encourages Andrew's uncommon characteristics, particularly his artistic streak, sensitivity to beauty, humor, and independence of spirit. In so doing, he sets Williams's tin man on a two-century journey to become more human than most human beings.

As adapted by screenwriter Nicholas Kazan, the movie's scale is novelistic, though Columbus isn't the man to embrace with Spielbergian confidence its sweeping possibilities. Instead, the Home Alone director shakes off his familiar tendencies to pander and matures, finally, as a captivating storyteller. But what really makes this film matter is its undercurrent of deep yearning, the passion of Andrew as a convert to the human race and his willingness to sacrifice all to give and take love. Williams rises to an atypical challenge here as a futuristic Everyman, relying, perhaps for the first time, on his considerable iconic value to make the point that becoming human means becoming more like Robin Williams. Nothing wrong with that. --Tom Keogh

Good Morning, Vietnam (Special Edition)

Barry Levinson (Wag the Dog) directed this comedy-drama about an Armed Forces Radio disc jockey (Robin Williams) whose manic, hilarious delivery from a studio in 1965 Saigon gives U.S. troops in the field a morale boost (while upsetting military brass). Based on the real-life experiences of deejay Adrian Cronauer, the film is actually more concept than story: put Williams in front of a microphone and let him go nuts. Still, the surrounding stuff about the influence upon Cronauer of the endless deaths among his listeners--as Cronauer tries to stay funny while feeling the mounting losses--is affecting. Williams got a much-deserved Oscar nomination for his work. --Tom Keogh

When the U.S. Army engages irreverent, nonconformist radio deejay Adrian Cronauer, it unleashes a secret, if unpredictable, weapon: laughter. Academy Award(R) winner Robin Williams (Best Supporting Actor, GOOD WILL HUNTING, 1997) shakes up 1965 Saigon in the role that garnered him his very first Oscar(R) nomination. Imported by the military to host an early a.m. radio show, Cronauer (Williams) blasts the formerly serene, sanitized airwaves with a constant barrage of rapid-fire humor and the hottest hits from back home. The G.I.s love him, but the top brass is up in arms. Riddled with sidesplitting comic salvos, bittersweet bombshells, and hot '60s rock 'n' roll, this landmark film chronicles one man's raucous Saigon adventures amidst a world gone mad. Featuring all-new bonus material that includes hilarious outtakes from Robin Williams' "raw" monologues, this Special Edition of GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM, scores a direct hit every time you watch.

RV (Full Screen Edition)

The long tradition of family vacation comedies continues in RV, with Robin Williams doing his best to keep things amusing. He succeeds, for the most part, by downplaying his manic persona and settling comfortably into his role as well-meaning husband and father Bob Munro. Determined to combine work and pleasure, Bob rents the titular motor home to drive his wife (Cheryl Hines), teenage daughter (Joanna "JoJo" Levesque) and pre-teen son (Josh Hutcherson) on a scenic vacation in the Colorado Rockies while secretly preparing his presentation for a high-stakes corporate merger. Their dysfunctional road trip leads to repeated encounters with the all-too-happy Gornicke family (led by Jeff Daniels and Kristin Chenoweth), who only appear to be stupid rednecks, when in fact they represent the familial togetherness that Bob is striving to regain. As directed by comedy veteran Barry Sonnenfeld (whose image as "Irv" the RV rental king is plastered across the side of the Munro's RV), these warm-and-fuzzy sentiments are strictly by-the-numbers, along with plenty of jokes about raw sewage, scavenging raccoons, and RV's run amuck. There aren't any real highlights, and the outcome is utterly predictable, but RV delivers enough comedy to qualify as an enjoyable diversion. Those who remember Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in Vincente Minnell's 1954 hit The Long, Long Trailer may find RV similarly entertaining. --Jeff Shannon

An overworked family man cancels the family vacation to Hawaii so they can bond on a cross-country road trip in a rented recreational vehicle.
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: WILLIAMS/HINES/DANIELS
Title: RV
Street Release Date: 02/20/2007
Domestic
Genre: COMEDY VIDEO

Death to Smoochy (Widescreen Edition)

Guaranteed to please anyone who thinks Barney is Satan's spawn, Death to Smoochy mines comedy gold by skewering children's television. Adam Resnick's easy-target satire blossoms under the demented influence of director-costar Danny DeVito, who honors his legacy of venom-laced humor with the raucous rivalry of scandalized former kid-show host Rainbow Randolph (Robin Williams) and his squeaky-clean replacement, Sheldon Mopes, a.k.a. Smoochy the Rhino (Edward Norton). Randolph is insanely obsessed with getting his job back, but Smoochy's a smash, and their war for kid-vid supremacy places a jaded "KidNet" producer (Catherine Keener) in the middle of a Rainbow/Rhino smackdown. A few lulls are easily forgiven since much of Death to Smoochy is laugh-out-loud hilarious, with DeVito, Robert Prosky, Jon Stewart, and Harvey Fierstein in choice supporting roles. It's no wonder DeVito's taboo-busting drew fire from family groups and actual kid-show producers; only the humorless would fail to laugh at Smoochy's uncompromised irreverence. --Jeff Shannon

Randolph Smiley (ROBIN WILLIAMS) has it all - as the costumed star of the highest rated kid's show on TV, "Rainbow Randolph" has a Manhattan penthouse, a Times Square billboard featuring his beloved character, cars , boats, horses and all the indulgence that celebrity brings. Until he get's caught by the Feds in an under the table bribe, busted and instantly reviled, Randolph is a star no more. Enter Sheldon Mopes (EDWARD NORTON) and his alter-ego "Smoochy", a puffy, fuscia rhinoceros. Smoochy is the perfect remedy for what ails the networks...Now it's Smoochy who's got the swanky penthouse, the Times Square billboard and the smooth-talking agent (DANNY DEVITO). Sheldon soon learns that children's television is a dangerous world steeped in corruption, back-stabbing and violence with his biggest problem being Rainbow Randolph. Broke and homeless, Randolph seeks revenge on the Rhino that stole his job and his house; he's convinced the foam rubber carpetbagger is the face of evil sent by the devil to destroy him and he will not sleep until Smoochy takes a permanent dirt nap.

The Fisher King

Arthurian mythology and modern day decay seem perfect complements to each other in this Terry Gilliam drama/comedy/fantasy. Shock jock Jack Lucas (Jeff Bridges) makes an off-handed radio remark that causes a man to go on a killing spree, leaving Lucas unhinged with guilt. Lucas's later, chance meeting with Parry (Robin Williams), a homeless man suffering from dementia, gets him involved in the unlikely quest for the Holy Grail. The rickety, and patently unrealistic stand that insanity is just a wonderful place to be, and that the homeless are all errant knights, wears awfully thin, but there are numerous moments of sad grace and violent beauty in this film. The screenplay by Richard LaGravenese launched his successful career and his smart wordplay helped garner Mercedes Ruehl an Oscar as Lucas's girlfriend. --Keith Simanton

A homeless, former history professor helps a shock radio dj find redemption in his search for the Holy Grail in modern day New York.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: R
Release Date: 28-AUG-2001
Media Type: DVD