JAKOB THE LIAR A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): *
Robin Williams's movies can be easily dichotomized into the brilliant (AWAKENINGS and MRS. DOUBTFIRE) and the awful (FATHER'S DAY and PATCH ADAMS). JAKOB THE LIAR falls firmly into the latter category.
With an extremely underdeveloped script by the director, Peter Kassovitz, the movie has maybe 10 minutes worth of ideas, which after almost two hours it stretches way beyond the breaking point. If it is supposed to be a comedy, it's not a funny one, not even a laughably bad one. And, if Kassovitz intended to make a serious picture, then he should have created characters that were more than stick figures.
The actors, who deliver uniformly bad performances, all fidget as if the canteen on the set served only large mugs of strong coffee. Watching the actors cavort around is, frankly, rather embarrassing. The movie is one that will have you getting better acquainted with your watch.
The plot of the story is that Jakob Heym (Robin Williams) has a radio, or so think his fellow members of the ghetto in Nazi-occupied Poland. Actually, Jakob only overheard a single broadcast on a radio belonging to the Germans. After that, he begins to make up news reports. Sometimes he gets his stories all mixed up. "Technically they're retreating, but strategically they're advancing," he says of the Russian soldiers that they hope will come soon to rescue them.
A non-religious Jew, Jakob says that "I know that we're the chosen people; I just wish the Almighty had chosen someone else," repeating a well-used line. For his prevarication, he becomes known as Jakob the Liar.
Some slightly whimsical music is about as funny as the movie ever gets. The dialog for the serious parts is leaden ("Who knows more about human relations than actors and barbers?" asks Alan Arkin's character.)
Overall, the story is so underdeveloped that it's almost inert. Usually, when Robin Williams fails, it's with shamelessly schmaltzy acting as in PATCH ADAMS. This time he makes the mistake of offering his viewers an almost lifeless character that makes passing the time while waiting for the ending credits extremely tedious. Let's hope that next time will be one of his good movies. He's due. No -- we're due.
JAKOB THE LIAR runs a very long 1:55. It is rated PG-13 for violence and disturbing images. Think of the movie, with its scenes of graphic torture, as an R.
Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com
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