There’s a great Jonathan Demme movie waiting to bust out of Rain Man, as it shares more than a few obvious parallels to Something Wild. But the gap separating Demme and Rain Man director Barry Levinson is a chasm between artistic insight and pander-ism. Rain Man’s cross-country odyssey—as shared by Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) and his autistic brother, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman)—strains for the profound and complex sense of Americana that’s Demme’s typical thematic obsession.
This is apparent from Rain Man’s opening, where Levinson bisects a smoggy Los Angeles background with a shiny red sports car, ironically scoring the scene to the Belle Stars’s hit cover of “Iko Iko.” It’s the L.A. parallel to the New York City skyline montage from Something Wild, but it packs none of that sequence’s seething, dangerous wonder, settling instead for an obvious comment about materialism and an unexploited joke: introducing quintessentially American pretty boy Cruise as a hood-ornament reflection.
The banality continues for two-plus hours, but it’s surprisingly less torturous than one might fear. The best that can be said about Hoffman’s Oscar-lauded performance is that it’s consistent, an actor’s equivalent to watchable white noise. Cruise is, of course, the exact opposite, suggesting a Danny Zuko-like high school jock mistakenly cast in Chekov’s Uncle Vanya, bugging his eyes and gesticulating with fervid abandon. Rain Man’s own Abbott & Costello metaphor goes a long way toward explaining the casting intent, though it also adds a dimension to the pop-culture-laden humor that masks the film’s superficiality.
At times, Hoffman’s dialogue sounds catchphrase-ready; in retrospect, we can thank our lucky stars that “Uh-oh!” and “Four minutes to Wapner!” are only minor touchstones in the cultural lexicon. Yet props should be given to Hoffman for insisting on the relatively downbeat ending, which saves Rain Man from plunging into total offensiveness and marks its historical place as a dull Best Picture winner to put alongside Cavalcade and Gentleman’s Agreement.
Image/Sound
A pleasing 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer compliments the tasteful conventionality of Rain Man’s imagery, lensed by John Seale. There is visible dirt and debris on the opening and end credits that miraculously vanishes on the movie proper. The dialogue-driven soundtrack is pleasingly offered in English 5.1, French Surround, and Spanish mono, with English, French, and Spanish subtitles.
Extras
No less than three unnecessary audio commentaries, one by director Barry Levinson, the next by co-screenwriter Ronald Bass, and the final one by co-screenwriter Barry Morrow. A deleted scene sets Hoffman’s character loose in a convenience store for more autism-related hijinks. Also included is a very standard 1988 making-of featurette, along with a photo gallery, and the original theatrical trailer. MGM also includes trailers for several catalog titles.
Overall
No time for a conclusion. Only four minutes to Wapner!
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