Like catching lightning in a bottle - that's how hard it must have been to capture Robin Williams' comedy on camera. No accident then that one of his funniest performances was as Aladdin, the genie in a bottle (1992). When Williams was uncorked, he could morph from character to character within seconds, making impressions with his face, his voice and his whole body. Maybe the best vehicle for his comedy was Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), but even in bad movies he usually had some great bits to offer as consolation. Some of those bad films were colossal failures, like Robert Altman's Popeye (1980) and Barry Levinson's Toys (1992). But still, Toys has arguably one of the funniest scenes in one of the worst movies ever (the MTV parody), and also shows Williams' generosity in allowing his co-star Joan Cusack to shine. Pity it didn't come together as a movie...
Like many great comedians, Williams wanted to be recognized as a "serious" actor, which resulted in quite a few memorable roles. He was properly goofy in The World According to Garp, and touching in Moscow on the Hudson (1984), Awakenings (1990), Terry Gilliam's Fisher King (1991),and his (finally) Oscar-winning role in Good Will Hunting (1997). He was equally effective in his sinister roles of 2002, in One Hour Photo and Christopher Nolan's Insomnia.
I have yet to revisit his break-through TV show Mork and Mindy, but I guess its silliness is more palatable for children. It's not the worst accomplishment to make children laugh, though, so he's excused for Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), too. Also forgiven is his tendency to make grown men cry, especially with Dead Poets Society (1989) - O Captain, my Captain!
One of the last attempts to reign in Williams' talent came from renowned TV producer David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal) with The Crazy Ones. Williams plays a recovering alcoholic who runs an ad agency with his daughter ("Buffy" Sarah Michelle Gellar). It had spots of brilliance and some sympathetic co-stars, but never really found its stride. Maybe in these times of political correctness, it was simply too risky to let Robin Williams loose. So the show was canceled after one season, and Williams reverted to playing the occasional American President (three times as Teddy Roosevelt in Night at the Museum and once as Dwight D. Eisenhower in The Butler). His last role, fittingly, will be as "Dennis the Dog" in Terry Jones' 2015 SF comedy Absolutely Anything.
So thank you Robin, for making us cry and making us think and - still your greatest gift to us - to make us laugh like crazy.
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