Great Characterization, needs a little more.....

Rating: Null/10 (16 February 1999)

Perhaps many people have placed too much emphasis on this movie. I am not saying this in a derogatory way. The characterization in this movie is brilliant. Matt Damon and Robin Williams give outstanding performances, although they do become a little predictable by the time that the movie is over. Perhaps this movie is just that: a characterization. The plot allows us to look at a man that is intelligent; far more intelligent than the average MIT student (as supposedly proved in the theorem-solving part of the movie). Like an action movie star, the main character allows us to look at someone that is unlike us. This goes for the character that Williams plays. We look at a psychologist with a type of awe: perhaps they see an insight into the human psyche that no one can (supposedly). The problem is that: the movie is full of characterization. Even though there are a few people that Damon plays running around the streets, we look into his life, and are forced to like him. Going out on a limb, I am saying that this movie is like a Steinbeck book: the characterization is superb, but the other elements are lacking. Don't let this movie escape you though, it is worth seeing the characterization alone. By the time the movie is over, you will feel that you know the people intimately. That is the reason that I give this movie a 6.8 out of 10