Extremely moving but not self-pitying, extraordinary but not self-delighting.

Rating: 10/10 (19 January 1999)

I don't think any words can adequately sum up the emotions this film evoked in me the first time I saw it. This is one of those rare movies that makes you go beyond empathizing with the characters and actually helps you to gain a better understanding of yourself. The main character (played superbly by Robert Sean Leonard) faces universal conflicts that every man has faced since the beginning of time--which is finding your own destiny and having the courage to create your own path in life. But the problem is treated with the perfect degree of sensitivity, passion and intricacy so that the characters could have in fact been anyone who was watching this movie. All characters are believably touching; along with 'Awakenings', this is Robin Williams' finest work to date.