The Rainmaker was one Coppola example of 90s Hollywood studio cinema - Grisham, stars, languid pace, lawyers, etc. So too was Jack - high concept, Robin Williams, schmaltz.
It's hard going. Coppola cares about the material and it's made with care but the whole film feels... off. Too slow. Miscast (eg Diane Lane as Jack's mum... I like Lane she just feels wrong. Ditto Brian Kerwin as dad). Maybe Robin Williams is too old and sad for the piece to be funny. I actually think Coppola was just the wrong director.
Or not. I dunno. This film evokes strange feelings. I didn't enjoy it. Williams plays a 40 year old ten year old. He's not even handsome and fit at his peak - he's already in decline. Tom Hanks in Big was in his prime.
Bill Cosby is fine but his presence kills fun. Actually all the acting is good - the kids and so on. Jennifer Lopez is good. Williams is solid.
It's just a bit sad and depressing. The kids are mean but then like Jack because he's good at bastkeball. But hanging with ten year old boys is rarely fun on screen - farts, vomit, burps, porn mags, etc. It's all true it's just not a very engaging age (while being a teenager is more interesting).
The one fun bit was when Fran Drescher hits on him. That's fun. And Michael McKean at a bar. The rest is so serious. Maybe, I don't know, if there had been some subplot where Williams helped his parents find love, make his mother a single mum and help her life. or help Lopez get a promotion. Improve people's lives. I know these are very Hollywood notes but it needed something.
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