Rating of
3/4
A unique brotherly bonding movie
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/01/08
"Charlie Babbitt" (Tom Cruise) is a self-trained hustler who knows how to work people. He soon learns that his father, who threw him out of the house as a teen, has died. He gets upset when he learns that his father left him a classic convertable, and his brother $3-million. A brother he does not remember.
He finds his brother, who is autistic skilled in figuring out complicated mathmatical problems in his head as fast as a calculator, in an institution.
Enraged that he was left a car, and his mentally disabled brother was left a large sum of money, which is something he doesn't understand, he kidnaps his brother and takes him on the road.
On the road, "Charlie" learns much about his brother, and, more importantly, about himself.
Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman are great in this movie. Both do a great job in their roles, especially Hoffman, who was originally signed to play Cruise's role. There are other excellent performances, but none stand out like the Cruise and Hoffman, who won the Academy Award for this role.
There aren't many visually outstanding scenes in this movie. There are, however, many scenes that really standout due to the performances.
One performance that was poor was done by Valeria Golino, who plays Cruise's girlfriend. Fortunately, she is not in the movie that much.
If you want to see a movie with great performances from the main actors, and don't really care about the scenery, then "Rain Man" is a good choice.
