Sure, some of his successes from year past had their sentimental moments, especially in his beloved turn in Dead Poets Society (1989), but that’s not what defined those movies in a nutshell either. It’s unfortunate to think that for a time that this was all that Hollywood thought that Robin Williams’ movies measured up to, this excessive sentimentality that’s only punctuated with his natural talent for improvisation. And when you look at the movies from this era that clearly didn’t work, you can see one thing that they all had in common schmaltz. Some movies of this period did turn out well (1995’s Jumanji and 1996’s The Birdcage), but there were plenty that didn’t (1996’s Jack, 1997’s Flubber, as well as Bicentennial Man and Jakob the Liar, both from 1999). Restraining him to a formula is not the greatest use of his talent, and that’s something that’s clear in his output from the 90’s. Robin Williams, like any other actor, wanted to tackle something challenging, giving him the opportunity to surprise his audience, and if you’ve ever seen Robin perform in front of a crowd, you’ll definitely see that desire within him to be unpredictable. It became clear over time that Hollywood saw Robin as a finely tuned machine that could bring the right kind of magic to any story, but that was not really the case at all. Doubtfire (1993), but soon after, his film output got a lot shakier. In the earlier part of the decade, Williams had two monster hits with his work as the Genie in Aladdin (1992) and as a cross-dressing nanny in Mrs. This particularly came to a head in the mid to late 90’s, when Robin’s film career was hitting a repetitive point. He became a performer restrained by his own successful identity, and that led to some rather disastrous films. And oftentimes, you could see Robin really struggling to define himself as an actor, but sadly was being saddled with movies that Hollywood thought were right for him. While Robin could excel at both, these two sides often would feel out of place next to each other, and it made some of his films feel particularly disjointed. These kinds of pictures tended to play off both sides of his persona on screen, the affable clown who works a mile a minute, as well as the warm-hearted every man who stood up for the right things and gave hope to the helpless. These were movies that more or less began to follow a formula one’s that thought they knew what a Robin Williams’ picture was all about, but in actuality had no clue.
That’s why at certain parts of his career, Robin was finding himself acting in roles that didn’t use his talents effectively. But, when you become an extremely popular actor in the public’s eye, Hollywood might over time begin to believe they can harness that popularity and work to control it. Oh sure, he had plenty of great films come his way, and many of those movies were no doubt improved by his presence. But while he proved himself time and again to be a master at so many different things, it unfortunately made it difficult to find the right kinds of roles for him. Though he could be completely bombastic and off-the-wall, he still had the ability to reign himself in and give a touching subtle performance once in a while something that indeed helped him win an Oscar for his work in Good Will Hunting (1997). A master comedian and a genius at improvisation, he also managed to carve out a niche as a well respected actor in both comedy and drama. Robin Williams was a rare talent in our lives.
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