Touches You

Good movie but grossly overrated

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Oh dear! I love Robin Williams, but this was by far, his worst film. He did a terrible job with his portrayal of a mentally challenged man. embarrassingly bad.David Duchovny played his flat self. Mediocre at best, more tedious really. The actual story wasn't too bad, especially early on, but I would really avoid the movie for the most part. Very predictable and preachy at times.

Knowing only 2 of Duchovny's past writing credits from the X-files, I was hoping for the best for his first feature film but boy, was I disappointed.Instead of channeling this story into a novel or at least tackling some genre material (he could've done a great job writing an X-files sequel after the first feature, instead of the crap fest we got recently), Mr. Duchovny felt the time was now to tell this particularly dense, yet heartfelt story.Spanning several decades which begin in the early 70's, we see the push & pull of a young artist's life as he handles first love, a domineering mother, catholic school, a mentally challenged father figure & friendship of a woman in a detention center (where the film gets its title).Any one of these plot lines could be a novel unto itself or even a decent TV series (that may've worked) but trying to put everything under the sun into this effort makes the whole feel like its bursting at its seams.Hopefully the gut punch audience reaction hasn't scared him away but I haven't heard anything regarding a follow-up from David, so who knows.Pity.

The answer to that question is: "kinda." His directorial debut isn't dishonorable, but it is not something that you'd take right off the shelf to your friend and say "this is good" without the tinge of sarcasm. It's a nostalgic piece of possibly semi-autobiographical storytelling that is full of pap and melancholy and, yes, a retarded Robin Williams performance. But some of the cast, like Duchovney's wife Tea Leoni, pull through reasonably well, and I liked some of the 1970s touches (the soundtrack mostly). It's about a young boy (Anton Yelchin, a rising talent) growing up in Greenwich village with his depressive, widow mother, and his one friend being janitor named Pappas (Williams) who does things even if they aren't the right thing to do (no, not in the sexual way ::frowns::) It's certainly not a bad movie, and I was kept in the mood to watch the movie once I tuned in to see how Yelchin's character would turn out, or how Duchovney, playing the adult version, would come back to reconcile his past. But it's sure to say that Duchovney is more assured as director than writer; a lot of his ideas become cluttered in the thick of the plot, and at times it's very awkward, and not always in the good comedic sensibility (Williams stumbles more than once in the character, though it's hard to say if he's annoying inasmuch as its written for him). I suppose if Duchovney tries again behind the camera, perhaps with someone else's script, he'll fare much better. He made a personal movie, independently done, and it once or twice verges to the touching momentum it wants to build to. It's also ham-fisted and 'meh' for a lot of the time.

It's Oct.27/06 and I had never heard of this movie... at all. Wasn't expecting anything terrific from it and maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much. I thought it gave a very heartfelt portrayal of a young mans past and what he went through, I would HIGHLY recommend this film to anyone. The only reason I am writing this is because I made a google search of the film after wards to see when it was made and found that critics completely panned it. A few highlight quotes from the panned reviews are that "Tea Leoni wasn't utilized enough in the film". She was used to the extent that she needed to be used, the story wasn't about her. Another said something to the effect that, "Robin Williams playing embarrassed wasn't enough..." or something like that. Well anyone who has truly followed Robin Williams career in both comedy and drama knows that he will do an excellent job in what he does and he does that exact thing in this picture. He is absolutely fabulous as the slow janitor of the school. Maybe it's too little too late for this film since I'm watching it for the first time 2 years after it's release but for those of you that are reading this, watch it and you will like it. Forget nose in the air reviewers who seem to be taking a personal slam at David Duchovny for writing and directing the film ( I didn't follow X-Files so I'm not a big Duchovny fan as far as that show goes BUT I am impressed with his work here) and watch something that isn't necessarily the Hollywood Blockbuster but definitely worth seeing. P.S. comments from the peanut gallery while I write this are "that was a F***ing great movie and forget those reviewers!" If that doesn't say it all well then... accept what the paid reviewers tell you.