Boulevard

Boulevard stars the late Robin Williams and is the last on screen acting performance we will ever get to see of the man who changed so many peoples lives through his amazing performances in films. And this performance is no different, it is a different type of role, a very dramatic role and i have to say he has left us with one of the best performances of his long and incredible career. Boulevard may not be a fantastic movie but Robin Williams showed in every scene why he was one of the greatest of his generation. He manages to portray this character who is so kind and giving but at the same time conflicted with feelings that he holds to himself so amazingly that you cannot look away from the screen. And with such a small cast he shines as he carries the film from start to finish making you feel so many different emotions at the same time for this incredibly fascinating character. The small supporting cast were all great and all contributed to really understanding Robin's character and why he acts the way he does throughout the film. I speak a lot about Robin's performance when talking about this film because it really is the best thing about the movie and apart from a few other aspects the movie wasn't as fantastic as it could have been.

Another thing i thought was so incredibly interesting about this movie is that it deals with many different themes and ideas that you don't see often in mainstream movies. It highlights certain topics in American society and although it isn't the most accurate representation of these topics it does it's best not to sugarcoat what is happening and that really helped staying engaged in the film. The movie also takes on a very, very slow pace and i understand that the movie needed to have this pace in order to properly share this mans story but without the performance mentioned above driving the film it would not have been nearly as good. The movie has plenty of very slow emotional moments that almost bring you to tears but it also get fairly dark and intense and although the two tones could have been balanced better throughout the film i found myself on the edge of my seat most of the time. The last 10-15 minutes of the movie seemed to fly by and some of what it showed i thought was very relevant to concluding the story but some other things i felt were unjustly concluded, i guess i wanted a little more in the end but it was an alright finale.

In the end, Robin Williams is the reason to watch this movie because not only was it one of his last but it was one of his best and was a truly emotional performance. The film itself was somewhat engaging but a lot of what was wrong with the film was hidden behind Robin's great performance. - 6.5

Nolan Mack (Robin Williams) is a stiff banker married to Joy (Kathy Baker). They seem devoted but he's been a closeted homosexual for all of his adult life. His father is in a nursing home. His best friend Winston (Bob Odenkirk) has a young girlfriend. He is being primed to be the manager of a new bank branch. One night, he cruises a boulevard and runs over male-prostitute Leo. He tries to take care of Leo who is under the thumb of his pimp Eddie.

Robin Williams does a good job. There is a neediness in Nolan that is both off-putting and compelling. The story is almost quaint by today's standard. The problem is that he could come out to everybody and there wouldn't be any damage. Times have basically passed by this movie. Ten years ago, this would be edgy. Today, his homosexuality could actually help in his banking job. It would probably be a relief to Joy to let the secret out into the open and Winston would throw him a party.

"Sometimes it's nice to be somewhere else." Nolan (Williams) has a great wife and a huge promotion coming at his job. He has everything going for him, but he has been keeping a secret from everyone his whole life. When he meets Leo (Aguire) he finally finds a way to be himself, but he still struggles with revealing himself. There are some movies that are made better by casting choices. There are some things that a person is the perfect choice for and you can't imagine watching it without them (Gandolfini in the Sopranos). This movie is the rare combination of those plus real world events that makes the movie actually transcend the screen and makes it feel more real and it has that much more of an impact. In this movie Robin Williams plays a character that struggle with something that he has to keep hidden from everyone while trying to be who they want him to be. The fact that he himself was trying to hide depression from everyone while trying to still be "Robin Williams" really adds an extra dimension to the character and makes the movie all the more emotional. The movie itself if just OK, but the real world events are really what makes this a movie to watch. Overall, very poetic that this is the final live action Robin Williams movie. It is almost his way of telling us how he was dealing with his problems. For that reason I recommend this. I give this a B+.

The fact that it is / was the last film of Williams add something to the viewing itself. I am not completely familiar with his death, so I can not really say how - maybe - this movie fits into his last months of life...But I can see that some stories can unfold something deeply hidden in someone and make an explosion.

This is a good drama. Williams is very believable in his role. It does feel genuine and somehow fits him good.

Someone wrote that the film is predictable.Well, for me, at least, I did not see that kind of an ending. I am not sure if I expected a happy ending with the boy, but... I am happy that my predictions ( whatever they were) did not come true.

Somehow, the slow pace of the movie and kinda darker colors / cinematography reminded me of the 60's and 70's and that added something moody, melancholic to the movie which I liked.

Seven from me.

I watched this as a streaming movie on Amazon. Good movie for the patient, it is very likely Williams' last movie role, filmed just a bit over a year before he took his own life.

Robin Williams is Nashville banker Nolan Mack, 60, and long time married to the woman he loves. He is very organized and reliable, and in fact watches over his very sick dad who is in a medical facility. His boss at work tells him, after 25 years at that branch, the big boss is considering him for a branch manager job at a different location.

But he has been carrying a secret since he was 12, in his own nature he is homosexual. As we meet him he and his wife have different bedrooms in their nice upper-middle class home, they show kind affection and profess love for each other but mostly live two separate lives. They talk about going on a cruise but his heart doesn't seem to be in it.

Everything changes for Nolan when he makes a U-turn on the boulevard on his way from home and almost runs over a young man, a street hustler. Nolan is mysteriously and calmly attracted to him. They end up going to a seedy place, the hustler offers sex for money but Nolan isn't interested in that, he just wants to visit and talk. Eventually Nolan attempts to get the young man some work at a restaurant, and discussed his going to school, all in vain. Is Nolan trying to be the father that he had needed when he was a young man, struggling with his own homosexuality?

Williams is great in a difficult role within a difficult subject. His character here reminded me some of his character "Sy the photo guy" in "One Hour Photo". Robin Williams was a very funny guy but I think he did his best work in dramatic roles. He really was one of the best actors of my generation.