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Fantastic!

Better Late Then Never

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

What if the person you were talking to on the phone really wasn't who you thought he was? That is the premise behind The Night Listener, based on a phone conversation between a radio show host and a young boy whose existence could never be proved. Unfortunately, in this case the true life events were likely more compelling than this bland adaptation.For a basic plot summer, "Night Listener" tells the store of a radio talk show host (played by Robin Williams) who takes a liking to a young boy supposedly dying from a terrible disease. However, as the relationship builds, "Williams" has reason to believe that the boy may not be who he says he is (or even exist at all), thus leading to a personal investigation to find out the truth.Now, had the film actually stuck to that basic plot line, it might have been a halfways decent thriller. Instead, for whatever reason, it focuses far too much on the personal demons of "Williams" (e.g. his character's homosexuality really doesn't add anything to the film, yet is explored in great detail). Also, the relationship between "Williams" and the mystery boy in question's mother is ultimately crucial to understanding the film's conclusion, but is again too much about HIS perspective, not HERS. Like I said, more focus on the mystery at hand would have made for a more compelling experience.Thus, I think a 1.5-star rating perfectly pegs this movie, as it was only good enough to make you want to see how things turn out in the end, not so much caring about the journey to get to that point. Also, it comes nowhere close to, say, "One Hour Photo" in terms of establishing Williams as a serious actor and not just a manic comedian.

A score of 5.9 with 12,000 reviewers here on IMDb reminds me of just how simple minded the majority of movie goers can be. But if your IQ is higher than room temperature readings and you enjoy a complex, thought provoking, psychological flicks, then this is a must see for you.If you are tuning in for a Robin Williams' laugh, forget it. This is a serious role and effortlessly show that Williams' talent went far beyond just comic roles. Perhaps fellow movie goers rated this film low out of disappointed not to find any chuckles in this flick, or were upset to find another movie where Williams' character was a homosexual male. Your guess is as good as mine.Toni Colette's outstanding performance shouldn't be missed by her following; it is perhaps, her best work that has gone unappreciated and unrecognized.Don't miss out on this little sleeper.

While I wasn't quite sure what to expect, THE NIGHT LISTENER turned out to be a dark and unnerving psychological thriller. Robin Williams plays Gabriel Noon(e), a radio talk show host who tells deeply personal (but often fictionalized) stories. After separating from his companion (Bobby Cannavale), he is given an advance copy of a 14-year-old boy's memoir by a publisher friend that recounts a childhood filled with sexual abuse. He also carries on a long telephone relationship with the boy. However, when the boy's existence starts to come into question, he starts an investigation that ends up creating more questions than answering them.What immediately struck me about this film was the disquieting mood created by the score and cinematography. Some of my favorite thrillers, regardless of narrative merits, have been able to hold my interest due to the atmospheres they create, and this is no exception. Robin Williams gives a wonderfully understated, yet nuanced, performance that ranks among his better, darker dramatic roles. Bobby Cannavale also does an excellent job, despite his limited screen time. However, the revelation was Toni Colette as Donna Logand, Pete's (Rory Culkin) foster mother. Her portrayal of a blind woman who may have some mental issues was effectively creepy and really got under my skin.Story-wise, I was almost gripped from start to finish. The first two-thirds were as good as any thriller I've seen recently, but the ending was a bit rushed in my opinion. The biggest theme tackled is about when the line between truth and fiction is blurred. This is first exemplified by the character of Gabriel Noon(e), who admittedly mines his own personal life for stories while leaving out all but the "shiny bits." This doesn't seem to bother him, except when he encounters it in another human being. It was an interesting topic for a movie, but I don't think that the film really delves into it the way it deserved. Overall, you end up with a decent psychological thriller that's well-acted but, at an anemic 80 minutes, could have been beefed up a little more.

For what it is.. It's largely fair. The script gives us some thrilling moments for what turns out to be finally a movie with a painful human experience. Actually, the movie's goal wasn't making a Mystery/Thriller out of exceptional psychological disorder (the way movies like Psycho do), it was only some attractive frame to show its case. And what a case indeed, as we're all sort of living that disorder in one way or another. Maybe the movie didn't go deep into that meaning, but it might be part of its simplicity anyway. The plot shows 2 persons : one who pathetically begs love, and the other was close to it ; Gabriel No one (Robin Williams) has no one around him at the moment, so what a face for him Donna (Toni Collette) could be. The 2 worlds of them were very much the same where, especially at the first scenes, we see him "listening without seeing", "being in the dark while the world is in light", and "living alone", surely like the blind Donna was. It's a case of lonely world, where love is hard to find, and darkness is inevitable fate that we broke it by being truthful to admit the fact (kind of No one did with himself at the end), or by continuing the lie (like Toni Collette's character at the finale). Yet, meanings like "not to be blind to plead with love, or not to see it" wasn't well put, moreover the change in (Noone)'s character at the end wasn't truly perceptible, and I really felt how his character, compared to (Collette)'s one or not, lacks details. Though, I loved the smart touches to know that the tortured Pete and Donna are one. Anyhow, if you set to watch it as violent thriller then it is one hoax, done simply and shortly, and according to that taglines like "You never know who's listening" would be laughable. But as a "true story" movie with message about searching for love then it's sad case to devastating extent. The original title of my review was "The Genius Toni Collette", she was fabulous, at her scenes as a blind woman she exterminated important actor named (Robin Williams) ! I loved her here and I didn't believe myself, this is high sensitivity more than any Hollywood professionalism can do. So I didn't write this title since I'm afraid to write it upon every movie by her !, I think she was the top of it. At last, and as a movie concerning a radio announcer, it's not "I Wanna Be Loved By You, No Body Else But You" kind of situation in Clint Eastwood's (Play Misty for Me - 1971), no, it's more like " I Wanna Be Loved" only. And that was enough for me to be said in a movie, but I can't fight the feeling of how the whole thing wasn't totally enough to say it deeply.