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Shelf Beauties
by Willie Waffle
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The
Night Listener
Robin Williams stars as
Gabriel Noone – a late night radio host who reads very
personal stories to his
audience. They have
followed all of his
struggles and successes, so the audience feels extremely close to Gabriel. One day, he is given a
new, shockingly candid
autobiography written by a 14-year old fan, Pete (Rory Culkin). The young boy has faced
horrible abuse,
suffers from AIDS and lives on the run with his new mother, Donna (Toni
Collette). As Gabriel starts to exchange letters and phone calls with
the dying
young man, questions about the story’s veracity arise, so
much so that Gabriel
is compelled to find the young boy and his mother.
What will Gabriel find when
he reaches their hometown?
The
Night Listener has a
very simple plot, but co-writer/director Patrick Stettner and
co-writers
Armistead Maupin (based on his novel and similar experience) and Terry
Anderson
mine every possible piece of tension and danger out of it to create a
very
eerie movie where danger is just around every corner.
Stettner makes us feel like anything can
happen to Gabriel in this All-American small town as our main character
goes
from place to place trying to solve the mystery put before him. He gives us a sense of
growing danger as
Gabriel gets closer to the truth, even if we don’t have a big
scare that jumps
at us out of nowhere.
Williams is very good as the
emotionally vulnerable broadcaster who is wrapped up in the mystery of
it
all. While most of
us would just stop
returning the phone calls or refuse to send anymore email, Williams
shows us
the emotional investment Gabriel has made in this relationship and why
he is
almost fanatical about discovering the truth.
It’s partly about getting the truth, but
partly because of the void
within in him that it fills. Meanwhile,
Collette is awesome as Donna. She
can
change emotions on a dime and always keeps the audience wondering if
she’s
telling the truth, hiding the boy, and maybe did something even worse
along the
way.
The
Night Listener is a
great alternative for those who don’t want to see silly
comedies, animated fare
for the kiddies or superheroes. The
pace
could be a little quicker, but that’s a minor criticism.
3
½ Waffles (Out Of 4)
Copyright
2006 - WaffleMovies.com
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