Customer Reviews

The Night Listener

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2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Sigh. I still have Maupin's novel "The Night Listener" on my nightstand. I understand from friends that it is (once again) more complex and easier to like than the new film. Maupin wrote the script with director Patrick Stettner and Terry Anderson, who was once Maupin's real life partner. The novel is semi-autobiographical, a story of love, loss and obsession that twists itself into a kind of psychological thriller.

Still, I was more compelled by the deeper emotions than I was by the plot twists and dark moments.

I try to see every movie that features Toni Collette. She's a consummate actress that isn't afraid to look ordinary, plain, kind of "horsy" when the role calls for it. In this film, as Donna, the social worker who adopted a young boy, Peter (Rory Culkin)to help him recover from a chilhood of abuse, pedophilia and sexual slavery, as well as AIDS, Collette is down right spooky. She's a little "off", but somehow we can't put our fingers on why. Peter's written a book about his so called childhood. As publishing editor Ashe (the always interesting Joe Morton) puts it, it was the cleanest manuscript he'd read that year, and so compelling that he gives it to author/public radio talk show host Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams) to read and dissect before publication.

Part of Ashe's strategy is to save Noone from himself. Noone is a national figure who brought his talk show (Noone at Night) to life by discussing his relationship with much younger, AIDS-stricken partner Jess (Bobby Cannavale). Throughout their 8 years together, while being applauded for his forthright style by the gay community, Noone has been feeding off his personal life, changing and tweaking details to make a better show. At the beginning of the film, we learn he's barely able to work anymore, because Jess has decided to leave him -- stronger and recovering from his illness, Jess has decided to live life on his own, with people who are more his age. Still, he cares for Gabriel and wants to continue the friendship. It is in the denouement of the relationship that Jess finally confesses that Gabe's laying out of their lives for all to see is what finally drove him away.

Noone reads the book by young Peter and begins a long-distance relationship with him and his caretaker by phone. He's being brought back to life by his feelings of caring when both of the young friends in "real" life, Jess and assistant Anna (Sandra Oh) cause him to take stock of whether or not Peter's story is real. There's a startling similarity to Peter and Donna's voices on the phone, and there's little that Gabe can do when his visit to see Peter in Wisconsin at Christmas is cancelled because Peter is in the hospital. Noone expresses his concerns to Ashe and suddenly Rory's book is on the back burner.

Tension heightens when Gabe decides to take a trip to rural Wisconsin to find out whether or not young Peter is who he says he is. The subsequent twists, turns and final peeling away of the truth in the movie are bizarre, have moments of discomfort, but no real shock or tension, as was found in the films of Hitchcock or "The Sixth Sense", which this film is being compared to. I must admit, however, that there is a moment of absolute terror for me when Gabe is a reluctant passenger in a car that turns off the road. The sounds of it continuing to travel are immediately recognizable to someone from Minnesota as the sounds a car makes when it is traveling over ice on a frozen lake. Now that is true fear.

Robin Williams plays Gabe as a man uncomfortable with where his life has taken him. He's real, he's difficult, and he's a little hard to understand when he finally arrives in Wisconsin. His feelings for Jess are never far from the surface, but it is in his moments with Sandra Oh, that his likeability shines through.

Collette, as mentioned before, is worth the price of admission. Once again, we find ourselves drawn to her, and her performance, almost by the sense of eeriness that she projects.

Cannavale, Morton, and Oh are some of my favorites from television, and all sparkle here, especially in interaction with Williams. Lastly, young Rory Culkin, in his brief moments on screen, is hard not to like.

I'm always surprised when a studio hands a film to a writer, as a director. (He's previously written and directed the forgettable "The Business of Strangers" in 2001, although in that film he also coaxed fine performances from Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles). Stettner is no exception to the rule that big dollars and actors/actresses might need a firmer hand. I am surprised that he was able to get the characterization on film and the performances flowing at this level; his cinematography was interesting, but script, the plotting and the sense of thrill and danger were very underdeveloped. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the final scene tacked on to show the audience where Donna has landed. The scene was almost dysfunctional; instead of leaving the viewer with a sense of dread, it left us wondering where and how she came into money.

Worth a view, but most film-goers will prefer to wait for the DVD.

Based on the theatrical release. THE NIGHT LISTENER is a psychological thriller based on the international bestselling novel by Armistead Maupin. The story revolves around a celebrated writer and popular late-night radio show host, Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams), who develops an intense phone relationship with a young listener named Pete (Rory Culkin) and his adopted mother (Toni Collette) just as his own domestic life is undergoing drastic changes. When troubling questions arise regarding the boy's identity, it causes Gabriel's ordered existence to spin wildly out of control as he sets out on a harrowing journey to find the truth.

This was an interesting movie. Almost like a heart warming film at first, only to become a much darker film. I wish the film went at a faster pace. But I am a fan of Maupin (the writer) from his Tales of the City. (This is not a gay film.) While not Oscar level, I liked it for a rainy afternoon.

I really wanted to love this film for a few reasons: (1) the very compelling premise (a radio storyteller in the midst of his own relationship troubles starts receiving calls from a young fan who is trying to publish a book about his childhood abuse, only to realize this "Petey" may not be who he claims to be, if he exists at all); (2) Robin Williams played a serious role which is so rare - it was wonderful to watch him play a gay man (in what I thought was an unstereotypical way) who was so emotionally raw; (3) Toni Collette was DYNAMITE in her role as the "boy's adoptive mother" (she should have been nominated for her role); and (4) it started off in such a way that I was constantly trying to figure out what was happening, which kept me on my toes, so to speak.

However, somewhere along the line the movie missed the boat, and my above-mentioned reasons for wanting to love it were outweighed by the lack of fulfillment I had upon finishing the film. If I were a movie expert perhaps I would be better able to explain what exactly was missing from this film, but as a lay person I just felt like it didn't live up to its potential, despite the interesting plot and wonderful acting. The ending (I won't give anything away), while interesting, was completely predictable and didn't really make up for the fact that the viewer was "in the dark" for the first half of the film.

I wouldn't recommend buying this movie (or even renting it), unless you are solely interested in Toni Colette's performance which was great.

Not really a crowd pleaser -- The Night Listener. This Robin Williams vehicle was unwisely billed as a thriller; truth told, it's more a drama with elements of mystery. I'd say the people marketing the movie failed, because the movie tanked last weekend (small $3 million opening) despite playing in 1,300 theaters.

If you're squeamish, you might skip this emotionally draining movie because of its subject matter. The plot involves the sexually exploited Pete Logand (Culkin), a fourteen year old boy whom was rescued from horrific family squalor only to be placed in a dilapidated Wisconsin farmhouse with a blind disabled foster mother.

Gabriel (Williams) is a national radio host based in NYC, and Pete is a fan of Gabriel's talk program `Noone at Night.' When the precocious teen pens a book about sexual abuse -- and Gabriel's publishing friend lends the manuscript to Noone -- the boy and the man become telephone friends.

Having explained the surface dynamics of the budding friendship between the two males, the moviegoer's discomfort is only amplified by the fact that Gabriel is portrayed as being openly gay. Wouldn't Gabriel's unspoken motivations make you uneasy, considering that his committed relationship with younger partner Jess (Cannavale) is concurrently falling apart?

The fact that a fourteen year old boy could write an accomplished nuanced memoir -- `The Blacking Factory' -- about sex abuse brings up too many uncomfortable questions, so Gabriel, his publishing friend Ashe (Morton), and his bookkeeper Anna (Oh), start sharing personal concerns they're all enmeshed in a career-ending hoax.

Logic tells them something is screwy because Pete places calls to Gabriel's home about his forthcoming book, and Pete's foster mother Donna (Collette), places calls to Gabriel concerning Pete's ill health -- supposedly he's developed AIDS -- but nobody at Gabriel's townhouse chats with the foster mother or damaged boy simultaneously.

In any event, Gabriel questions Pete's existence and the possibility he's a fraud gnaws at him. Since he's a radio host, he's comfortable conversing with hundreds of anonymous callers every night. Are his call-in participants any more real than Pete? Maybe Pete is a better master manipulator than Gabriel is?

Stettner is the director here, and he fashions a mesmerizing story around Gabriel's decision to verify the truth no matter what destruction it might visit on his personal life. When Donna and Pete's arranged visit to New York falls through (disconnected phone) Gabriel wings off to Milwaukee to locate them anyway.

Toni Collette upstages Robin Williams twice here. First in the damp basement of that wrecked farmhouse where she juggles props (a ball of yarn, a fetching red sweater) with insults that'll stand your arm hair on end. The second time on a cold avenue -- that encounter involving a near fatal accident.

Equally chilling is a scene where Gabriel has been captured by a burly local policeman -- after breaking into Donna's house after Pete supposedly dies in a hospital and Donna abruptly moves out of the farmhouse -- and is then driven out on a frozen lake, and attacked with a taser.

Now that I've framed the premise, complimentary observations are due. First, that kaleidoscopic introduction is riveting. What's going on? We get just a glimpse. Second, charged tension floats between characters throughout; even in casual exchanges, like when Gabriel buys Playboy from a newsstand, or he argues with Gabriel Noone Sr. (Cullum).

Even though The Night Listener doesn't seem to be pulling the audience it deserves; it's going to turn a healthy profit on home DVD since it only cost $4 million to film. It's got high production values, it's gorgeous to look at, and Robin Williams and Toni Collette both turn in bravely compelling performances.

Rather than nitpick the misplaced fatherly concern (ill-advised transcontinental flight) that places Gabriel in mortal danger, viewers should simply entertain the idea that his voyage was purely selfless. It's only in that nuanced light that the adaptation of Armistead Maupin's The Night Listener succeeds. Nonetheless, Robin's work here should be considered Oscar-worthy.

Armistead Maupin's novel THE NIGHT LISTENER is a terrifyingly disturbing examination of a disintegrating mind and the manner in which such a mind deals with needs and reality. It is a stunning work, one in which the reader is never quite sure where reality stops and delusions start. Though Maupin co-wrote the screenplay adaptation with Terry Anderson and Director Patrick Stettner, some of the inherent magic of the story is lost in translation when the camera makes the novel visual.

Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams in a fine, understated serious performance), a writer who reads the 'fiction of his life' on a late night talk show, is having a writer's block, due in part to his devastation of losing his AIDS ridden but stabilized lover Jess (Bobby Cannavale), having nursed him for years but now feeling discarded so that Jess can feel life again. A literary agent Ashe (Joe Morton) asks Gabriel to read a galley of a book written by a 14 year old boy Pete Logand ('Rory Culkin') who is describing his years of sexual abuse as a child and his current coping with AIDS in Wisconsin and is under the faster care of a social worker Donna (Toni Collette, once again proving there is no role she can't master!). Gabriel reads the book galley, and is fascinated by a story about a life that makes his own situation seem minor. He receives a call from Pete and subsequent calls from Donna and when he shares the story and events with Jess he is warned of a possible fraud. Does Pete really exist? It seems Gabriel needs to discover the truth and heads to Wisconsin where he meets the blind Donna but is unable to get in to see Pete. Where the story goes form there is important to leave unsaid, as the mystery must be kept intact for the individual viewer.

Each of the cast turns in credible performances, not an easy feat when the line between illusion/delusion/reality is so tenuous. One character has been added - Anna (the always superb Sandra Oh) - and it is her analysis of the facts that holds much of the storyline together. The mood of the piece is perfectly captured by cinematographer Lisa Rinzler and music writer Peter Nashel. But credit director Patrick Stettner for pulling performances form Williams, Collette, Cannavale and Oh that represent some of their finest work on film. Grady Harp, January 07

Armistead Maupin's novel, The Night Listener, was a departure from his usual light hearted looks at metrosexuals. The roman-a-clef was based on an episode in Maupin's own life that coincided with the break up of his relationship with Terry Anderson. During this period, Maupin became involved in a phone relationship with what he thought was a 14 year old boy who was dying of AID's & the boy's care-giver, Donna. Eventually doubts were raised about whether the boy actually existed or was Donna herself.

The novel tells its story primarily through conversation, on the telephone & between Gabriel Noone (Maupin's alter-ego) & his ex, his publisher, and his personal assistant. This works in a novel, but can be hard to translate to a visual medium due to its lack of action. The film of The Night Listener does not succeed in crossing over, possibly due to the fact that Maupin & ex-partner Anderson wrote the screenplay. The film doesn't work in many places, mostly due to adhering too closely to the book.

One of the biggest problems with the film is that it is dark. Not just emotionally dark, but filmed with so little light in many interior scenes that it is difficult to tell where the action is taking place. Although the film is supposed to be a `thriller of the heart', the darkness does nothing to add to a sense of tension.

Another set of problems are related to the screenplay: first, that the initial build up of the relationship between Noone and the boy Pete isn't shown. The viewer sees 2 phone calls and immediately Noone becomes obsessed with Pete Logan. In this case the film would benefit from a more gradual arc. Secondly, the scene with Gabriel Noone & his father, played by Northern Exposure's John Collum. In the novel, Noone's relationship with his father is a subtext that partly explains his attachment to the boy Pete. In the film, the lone scene comes out of nowhere & goes nowhere. The few minutes spent on it would be better used in the early period of Noone's & Pete's phone conversations.

In trying to create more of a standard thriller, Donna Logan has morphed from being a friendly, sensible, no-nonsense person whose conversations Noone enjoys into a blatantly disturbed woman in the film. It's a bit difficult to tell if the characterization was written this way for the screenplay or if Toni Collette made the choice to portray Donna as a twitchy nutcase. The ultimate blame lies with the director for allowing clichés to trump subtlety.

But the biggest problem with The Night Listener is Robin Williams. As Gabriel Noone, he is literally in every scene of the film. Williams has turned down the level of his energy to such a degree that he appears to be sedated throughout the entire film. He mumbles his lines, sits in the dark looking depressed, and rarely holds either the attention or the sympathy of the viewer. Although in the throes of a break-up that was entirely unexpected, the viewers' sympathies lie with the ex-boyfriend. There is simply nothing lovable or particularly attractive about Gabriel Noone as embodied by Robin Williams. A flash of humor, a twinkle in the eye, a little energy, all would have gone a long way towards engaging the interest of the audience.

So, does The Night Listener succeed on any level? No, not really. The book is hardly a classic, but the film is entirely disposable. The DVD offers no reason to purchase either; the extras are simply a "Behind the Scenes" discussing the actual events with Maupin & Anderson (Maupin displays a puckish presence that is more akin to Robin Williams than Williams' own impersonation) and 1 Deleted Scene. Considering the film itself is only 1 hour 20 minutes, there was certainly plenty of space available on the DVD for additional extras.

Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams), a respected author and host of a popular radio show, is taking his boyfriend Jess' (Bobby Cannavale) need `for a little space' poorly. After eight years of living with AIDS, Jess is getting stronger and needs to experience life on his own for a while and not provide material for Gabriel's radio essays. One day, Gabriel's publisher Ashe (Joe Morton) hands him a galley for a book they will soon be publishing; he wants Gabriel to read it and provide a blurb. He reluctantly reads the book and finds a powerful autobiography about a boy growing up with pedophile parents. He soon learns the boy, Toby (Rory Culkin) has been adopted by Donna (Toni Collette) and they now live in a rural Minnesota town, to protect him from his mother. Toby calls Gabriel and leaves a message and they begin a phone relationship. After talking to Donna, Gabriel feels he has two new friends. One day, Jess is at the house, helping Gabriel with a fuse, when Toby calls. Gabriel happily introduces them, bringing the two parts of his life together. After the call, Jess tells Gabriel that he thinks both Toby and Donna are the same person. Gabriel doesn't believe him but the seed of doubt has been planted. Can he accept this? He has a new cause in his life, giving him purpose. Can it be wrong? How can he prove Toby actually exists?

"The Night Listener", directed by Patrick Stettner and based on a popular book by Armistead Maupin ("Tales of the City"), was inspired by events in Maupin's life. "Listener" is a very good, well-made psychological thriller.

Stettner takes the time to introduce Gabriel and all of the people in his life before taking us on this strange journey with the writer. This is important because it makes us believe Gabriel is a real person and this makes the more fantastic parts of his journey seem more believable. Stettner slowly and deliberately introduces these elements, providing details to Noone's life, giving the film a slower pace than most would anticipate in a thriller. But it works. When Gabriel travels to Donna's home, we both see how Gabriel could become so engrossed in these people he has never met and we see his doubt. It is a nifty trick and it works very well.

As Williams creates Gabriel, you may be amazed at how good he is. Williams turns in his most realistic, yet low key performance which is even more amazing when you consider his last film was the broad family comedy "RV". As Gabriel, he brings a quiet resign to the character. Years as a celebrity, community icon and living in New York have taken their toll. All of this, and his recent break-up, have beaten him down. He watches events quietly, staring at people, reacting to them, unable to suppress the sigh or the disappointment when everything is too much for him. At one point, Jess invites him to his Christmas party. Arriving at Jess' new apartment, Gabriel finds it packed with tons of young men and woman, music blaring. He doesn't have to say anything, but we instantly know this is not the type of environment he would feel comfortable in. It is also easy to see this is one of the reasons Jess needed some space. He never had the opportunity to have this sort of party when he was in a relationship with Gabriel. It is a very, very good performance.

As Toby and Donna enter Gabriel's life, it seems entirely believable that Gabriel would latch onto them, make them a new project. They essentially become a new purpose for him and renew his vigor for life. Even though he has never met them, Gabriel latches onto Toby's statement about thinking about girls all the time and secretly sends his new young friend a copy of Playboy because he surmises it must be difficult to get that in rural Wisconsin. Toby becomes the little brother Gabriel never had.

He also fully believes Donna's stories about Toby's background, his health and his frequent visits to the hospital. When Donna asks him to visit for Christmas, Gabriel readily accepts. He has become obsessed with his new `friends'. Yet, when Donna cancels, citing the doctors' advice that visitors would only excite Toby's condition, Jess becomes more skeptical, his attitude fueled by Gabriel's understanding nature. Because we get to know Gabriel, spending time with him, this behavior seems entirely believable.

An early scene between Gabriel and Jess brilliantly establishes a key aspect of the story. During an argument, Jess asks Gabriel to recount a key moment in their lives. Gabriel remembers it in a more romantic way than it actually happened, adding many details to embellish his `writing'. Jess quickly corrects him. This makes it more difficult for us, because we can never fully tell if we are watching Gabriel's interpretation of events or something as it is actually happening. Are we watching what he wants to happen?

When Gabriel ventures to Wisconsin, he finally tracks down Donna and is surprised to learn she is blind. As Donna, Toni Collette turns in another memorable performance and a performance that is about as different from her work in the recent "Little Miss Sunshine" as you can get. There are many layers to Donna and Gabriel spends a lot of time trying to figure her out. With every move, he only becomes all the more engrossed in the mystery.

Toby sends a picture to Gabriel, which he keeps with him at all times. Yet, as his doubts arise, Gabriel keeps referring to the picture. Can he see Toby? Yes, Donna will take him to the airport the next day? But then they fight, so she says she will never take him to the hospital. Gabriel heads out, checking the hospitals himself. Yet, Donna manages to side step this as well. What is truly amazing about Collette's performance is that she manages to keep us in the dark as much as Gabriel. She manages to string Gabriel, and us, along as she keeps him away from him.

As the story progresses and we realize the strangeness of her character, she makes it seem believable as well. The key to this is that she is fairly low-key and every time she acts strange, there seems to be a reason for her behavior. Yes, there are brief flashes of anger and occasional outbursts, but she is so intent on providing Gabriel with this persona, that she carefully portrays it, making it work.

Bobby Cannavale is very good as Jess, Gabriel's former lover and project. He provides a nice counterpoint to Williams' older character, showing how their fairly typical relationship could go awry. Sandra Oh ("Sideways", TV's "Grey's Anatomy") has a brief role as Gabriel's friend and part time accountant, Anna. She provides a bit of help when he is trying to figure things out, providing him with the technical knowledge he lacks.

As the film moves from New York to Wisconsin, Stettner manages to portray both without stereotypes, which is pretty impressive given the fact that he also manages to make the rural settings seem fairly foreign, mysterious and foreboding. As Gabriel decides to investigate whether Toby is real, he travels to Wisconsin and finds a barren, cold, desolate landscape, very unlike the New York he is familiar with. This new setting helps to remove Gabriel from his comfort zone, making the proceedings all the more surreal and unusual.

"The Night Listener" is an effective thriller featuring two very good performances from Williams and Collette.

Night Listener is a movie based on the true story of Anthony Godby Johnson and stars Robin Williams and Toni Collette in the main roles. Williams' Gabriel character develops a phone relationship with a young boy named Pete but eventually becomes suspicious that his "friend" may not exist because no one has ever seen him. He doesn't want to accept this but he starts to wonder if it really is true. His suspicions are deepened with another person tells Gabriel that a psychological disorder exists that explains this type of behavior. Gabriel is bound and determined to find closure to this mystery and he sets off to Wisconsin in seek of the truth.

This sounds like the buildup to a great thriller/suspense film but the fact of the matter is The Night Listener doesn't quite deliver the amount of pulse- pumping, heart- thumping suspense action its premise suggests. There are a few creepy scenes in the film and some surprises. But the creepiness and the shock value never quite approach the level of a great suspense thriller. This isn't to say that Night Listener doesn't have its moments because there are a few. Toni Collette is responsible for most of the film's best and most memorable moments. Her Donna character is a blind woman; a little unstable and a little weird. You don't know exactly what she might do next and she is responsible for the few moments of suspense present in this film.

Besides the suspense, there is a deeper message to this movie and it is one that becomes more obvious as the movie drags on. It is a message of wanting to gain attention and feel the strong ties of a relationship. The lengths that some people will go to fulfill this need are varied from person to person. But you see it happening in this film. Gabriel is dumped by Jess so he ends up seeking the attention of Pete and won't stop his search until he knows for sure whether or not Pete really exists. Donna has such a need for relationship fulfillment that she makes up another person and plays the parts of him and herself.

The Night Listener is a slow, quiet film that never quite reaches the all- out terror that many viewers will be looking for. The slowness and relative calm do add a certain degree of suspense because you keep expecting something big to take place. But nothing major ever happens. The film just keeps plodding along until it finally reaches the end in mostly dissatisfying way.

Toni Collette is the standout in this movie and Robin Williams is also quite good. Collette looks quite different from the glamorous star we all know and love. She is a little on the tattered side in this movie and those glaring eyes of hers are befitting of the character she plays. Robin Williams is also very good and convincing in his role as a man who wants to find out the truth even if it means breaking into Donna's home and searching every hospital in the city for this person named Pete.

Overall, Night Listener is an okay film that will probably appeal to only about half of those who watch it. I would rate it 2.5 stars if I could because while I like the premise of the film and the performances, I am disappointed that director Patrick Stettner didn't do more with such an interesting true story. I will round my rating to three stars and give it a minor recommendation. It is worth a look if you're a fan of Toni Collette or Robin Williams and it will take up only 91 minutes of your day, making it worthy of watching just once.

I have not read Armistead Maupin's book that The Night Listener was based upon or seen the trailers for the film; instead I read the description on the DVD box that included Roger Ebert's comment that this is a "Hitchcockian thriller." I was looking forward to seeing the film since Robin Williams and Toni Colette are such excellent actors. Sad to say, my wife and I found the film to be slow, if not boring, in starting and we did not find the movie all that mysterious, and after a while found the characters unsympathetic.

A problem with the film is that you are plunged into the middle of a story. Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams) is bleakly depressed: he is breaking up with a long-time partner (who is dying) because he uses the people around him as fodder for his own writing and he is unable to do his radio show, walking out on a recording session. We do not have a lot of background on Noone and Jess but they keep meeting with acrimonious results that take away from the main thread of the story: who is this boy. Then, there is the book that publisher Joe Morton wants him to read supposedly written by a 14-year old that is literary dynamite (someone that the publishers had never met) about sexual abuse. I found this implausible from the beginning since what publisher would want to print a book from an unknown author they never had met (nor could they meet due to his poor health). Then, after agreeing to publish the book the publishing house refused to go ahead with the book.

Robin Williams' performance was good but I found I did not care for him in the role, which was overwrought, consumed with anger and dialogue punctuated with an excess of foul language. Toni Colette does her best in a role that is mildly sinister but we were not fooled by her character's blindness. One does wonder why the people in the small Wisconsin town are so protective of her to the point where the police drive Noone to a deserted lake and zap him several times with a kind of stun gun. There does not seem to be anything for anyone to hide or even protect, so what might be construed as something sinister falls flat.

The story might have worked better if there the suggestion of a murder or kidnapping but there is no one to fear for just Toni Colette assuming a personality and there is nothing very creepy in her believing she is someone else. I never felt that Noone was seriously threatened as he tried to find the boy and death is not lurching around the corner if he uncovered Colette's secret. I cannot judge how well the film was adapted from Armistead Maupin's book but this appears a case where the adaptation has become muddled with the story suffering as a result: too much to say and not enough time to say it.

This story is based on the true encounter by the real author with a boy named Anthony Godby Johnson, and this boy's own writings, which turned out to be fictitious. I thought the movie was well done. Robin Williams really captures the sad man searching for someone to save, and Toni Collette, always wonderful in everything she does, is believable as the boys guardian. Gabriel Noone (Williams)is a radio personality that meets an abused boy through his yet unpublished writings. They develope a telephone relationship. As he is drawn deeper into the boys life, he wants to get to know him by more than just via the telephone. He goes to Wisconsin to meet him. It is here that things really get creepy, with social worker/adoptive mom Collette turning in an understated performance as a weirdo that'll really scare you. The ending leaves you wanting to know more, such as what really happened to the story. As it turns out, the story ends in this movie pretty much the same way as it did in real life, with alot of unanswered questions. Truth can be stranger than fiction after all.