Movie Review: Rain Man (1988)

I just received a funny and random comment on my review of On Golden Pond:  "WOW. Way to spoil a movie and not even do a proper review."  That confirms it's a good thing I stopped writing plot lines.  But I wonder how someone reached my review from 2009.  I don't what a "proper review" is - I just write down my thoughts.  I have thought about reading more real reviews, just to get some pointers, but I haven't been too interested.

Anyway, we saw Rain Man, Best Picture Winner 1988.  I think Tom Cruise got gypped, not even nominated for Best Actor for playing Charlie Babbitt..  I think maybe the movie role of an impatient immature jerk doesn't get many nominations.  I am used to seeing Tom Cruise in action movies, so I was impressed at his acting.   But notable is that Dustin Hoffman won Best Actor.  I definitely agree with that, because I actually forgot while watching it that this was an actor - it was just so believable.  He is so consistent while playing the role of Raymond Babbitt.

Rain Man is one of those movies that integrates comedy and drama just so seamlessly, and it is strong in both areas.  Forest Gump would be another example.

There are some movies where the death of a person is the climax of the movie.  Some examples are One Flew and Midnight Cowboy.  However, in Rain Man, a death of a person sets the plot into motion.  Charlie Babbit's father died, and left the money to a mental institution. Without that, the plot would have never gotten started.  Another example of this is the Cinderella Story, or Ever After, which I haven't seen, but I've seen the beginning several times.  Without the father's death, the plot would have never happened.  So it is with our faith -Christ died, so that we could have life.  His death and resurrection set the real plot of mankind into motion - it's kind of the beginning and the end all in one.

My favorite scene is when Charlie Babbitt realizes that his brother was the "Rain Man" who came and sang to him when he was young, and then Raymond sings "Saw Her Standing There".  I would definitely watch the movie again.