A self centered yuppie named Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) receives word that his estranged father has passed away. Charlie returns for the funeral to retrieve what he assumes will be the fortune that his father has left him. He is sorrily mistaken. All he is left is his father’s prized 1949 Buick Roadmaster. In a fury he demands to know what he did with the rest of the money. What he discovers is it was left in a trust for his autistic-savant brother, one he never knew he had. Charlie takes off to the home his brother has been cared for in and tries to bargain with Raymond’s (Dustin Hoffman) guardian. When the guardian is not swayed, Charlie takes Raymond for a ride, and doesn’t return. It doesn’t take Charlie long to see his brother’s unique gift to be able to do unimaginable math quicker than a calculator. Or the fact that he can memorize ridiculous amounts of trivia. It also becomes apparent that Raymond’s autism is much more severe than Charlie had assumed. The schedule that can’t be broken, the inability to be touched, to the food he eats. Everything is a programed routine, that Charlie does not understand. In light of Raymond’s idiosyncratic behaviors, Charlie decides to utilize his gift by taking him to Vegas to turn his luck around. At some point Charlie realizes he’s only been accommodating Raymond to help himself, not Raymond, and the fact that he’s been using his brother, the only family he has.
Tom Cruise is good at playing a self involved, arrogant, scoundrel, that cares for no one but himself. But what he hadn’t done at that point was mix it with someone who was deep down very hurt and had obvious abandonment issues. Cruise takes you on the journey from the first to the second. It was shocking to see how well he pulled off the cocky, jerk who had no problem taking advantage of his mentally deficient brother to suit his needs. In contrast, Dustin Hoffman plays this mathematical robot, unable to emotionally connect with anyone and it was mind boggling. The genius of the film was the director and actors ability to display in small doses the connection that Raymond and Charlie do eventually find for one another. Two brother’s completely cut off from each other and the rest of the world, somehow find comfort in each other, to the best of each of their abilities.
I am unsure how pivotal a role the camera work and cinematography played in this movie, because it was so focused around the relationship that evolved between Raymond and Charlie, and I only had eyes for it. It’s a film that makes you laugh, cringe, and cry. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time. And I vow not to cry in the last scene each time I watch it, but who can refuse tears of joy and sorrow? Rain Man is an easy Four out of Four blissful stars.
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