Sporadically inspiring but flawed and lacks true depth

Rating: 7/10 (30 August 2017)

This movie has a lot of things going for it. Beautifully filmed in a picturesque location, with excellent performances by Robin Williams and Robert Sean Leonard. Having not seen this for years, however, some irritating flaws have made themselves known I never noticed before, such as how little Ethan Hawke is actually in it, and how underdeveloped his character is. More time seems to be given to Josh Charles seemingly pointless subplot involving him pursuing a pretty girl. Considering neither have anything interesting to say to each each other except cookie cutter love dialogue, it sort of undermined the more grandiose attempts that Robin Williams was trying to get at. Sure love makes life worth living, but portraying a love story that bland and shallow doesn't really inspire. Would have been better to have some more interactions between Todd and Keating in place of that so their relationship would be given time to grow, we learn more about them, making the conclusion hit as hard as it should. It also would have been nice for the actual meetings themselves to have more of a point and dissect and examine the poems they speak rather than getting them out of the way so they can dance and sing the night away. The intentions and the themes are good, plus the great score and the atmosphere are why this gets a 7, but in a perfect world it would have been a 10 if not for it's frustrating stumbles in the character and plot department.