Rain Man

A galvanizing accomplishment. Superb script, brilliant direction by Barry (“Diner” “Tin Men” “Good Morning, Vietnam” “The Natural”) Levinson, and wonderful performances, together with a truly touching and wonderfully real story. For the first time in his career, Tom Cruise shows real star quality; his performance is marvelously restrained. He is playing a character here, not just adapting his personality and good looks to a name, as he has done in the past. I think his performance may be the best in the film. This may sound surprising, in view of the acclaim that Dustin Hoffman got as Raymond, but here's the thing: Hoffman is extraordinary, brilliant, superb, yet the very nature of his role means that what he is doing falls more into the category of doing an impression than of acting. He is not playing a person so much as he is evoking a type. We can't ever get to know Raymond--that is his curse--so there is not much that Hoffman can do beyond painting a portrait of an autistic man. Anything beyond that would by definition be a bit of a cheat. In fact, one could make the argument that even the slight softening of the ending (did the two brothers actually connect?) is pushing the bounds of believability. But by then it may not matter; we have already gotten the essence of the picture. In the end, we see that Cruise's character has grown, and we believe it. And that is what movie making, and, to Cruise's credit, acting, is all about. Don't miss this.