What the Hell Happened to Robin Williams?

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http://lebeauleblog.com/2013/04/25/what-the-hell-happened-to-robin-williams/

At the peak of his career, Robin Williams was one of the most sought-
after actors in Hollywood. He made the extremely rare transition from
comedian to dramatic actor. What’s more, he was able to alternate
between popular comedies and dramatic roles while winning awards for
both. But eventually, Williams’ popularity waned. While Williams
remains busy, his last starring role in a mainstream movie was in
2009.

What the hell happened?

Williams was a quiet kid who came out of his shell when he became
involved in his high school drama department. In 1973, at the age of
22, Williams was one of only twenty students accepted into the
Julliard School. He and Christopher Reeve were the only two students
accepted by John Houseman into the Advanced Program at the school that
year.

Williams left Julliard in 1976. In 1977, he started appearing on TV
shows like Laugh-In and Eight is Enough. He was a regular on the
Richard Pryor Show which last only four episodes. Here’s a clip:

Williams had a guest spot on the popular 50′s sit-com, Happy Days.
Williams played an alien named Mork who came to Earth looking for a
human specimen. He chose Richie Cunningham to take back to his home
planet of Ork. It fell to the Fonz to save his friend from a bizarre
alien abduction. In the end, the entire episode turned out to be a
dream.

The story goes that Williams was cast as Mork after meeting with
producer Gary Marshall. Marshall asked Williams to take a seat and
Williams immediately sat on his head. Marshall later commented that
Williams was the only alien to audition for the role.

Williams’ guest spot on Happy Days was popular enough for Marshall to
launch a spin-off show, Mork and Mindy in 1978.

(This was an exceptionally common practice at the time. Happy Days
was a spin-off from Love American Style. In addition to Mork and
Mindy, Happy Days launched six other shows: Laverne & Shirley,
Blansky’s Beauties, Out of the Blue, Joanie Loves Chachi, and two
cartoons.)

The new show had Mork landing on Earth in the present day of the 70s.
Instead of abducting a human specimen, Mork’s mission was to study
humans and report back to his boss on Ork. Mork was taken in by the
beautiful and kind-hearted Mindy played by Pam Dawber. Hi-jinks
ensued.

The Mork character was extremely popular with kids. It launched a
slew of Mork-themed merchandise. Williams’ grinning face was
everywhere. Speaking as a kid who was part of the show’s target
demographic, I loved the broad humor. I even went as Mork for
Halloween one year.

The pictures isn’t of me. But I had this exact costume right down to
the creepy Williams mask. Although I didn’t wear the mask. Those
things were extremely uncomfortable. And what do you need the mask
for? Batman, sure. But Mork? Especially when they put his face on
your chest as well. What was the point of that? It’s not like Mork
had a picture of his face (long with his name and catch phrase) on his
chest.

Mork and Mindy ran through 1982. In the final season, a number of
gimmicks were used to try to save the show. Mork and Mindy got
married and had a son. Because of his alien physiology, their son
aged backwards which allowed them to cast comedy legend Jonathan
Winters as a child in the body of an old man.

The gimmicks did not result in increased ratings. The show ended on a
cliff-hanger. In the first two parts of a three-part story, Mindy’s
apparent was destroyed and the family was on the run from a hostile
alien. The conclusion to the story was never filmed.

The final episode of the show to air was filmed before the cliff-
hanger and did not resolve the dangling plot thread – much to the
chagrin this particular Mork and Mindy fan. (I spent years trying to
figure out whether or not I had missed the conclusion. Turns out, I
hadn’t.)

While Mork and Mindy was still on the air, Williams was also working
as a stand-up comic. He filmed an his first HBO special, Off the
Wall, in 1978.


In 1980, Williams made the jump to the big screen in Robert Altman’s
musical take on the popular cartoon strip, Popeye.

Popeye is an odd an uneven mix of adult sensibilities with what is
ostensibly a children’s film. Williams, with cartoonishly bulging
forearms, makes a great live-action Popeye. He mumbles all of his
lines, but when you can understand him he is genuinely funny. And
Olive Oyl is surely the role Shelley Duvall was born to play. But
anyone expecting a brightly colored live-action cartoon was likely
disappointed by the dirty, realistic look of the film.

Originally, the roles of Popeye and Olive Oyl were intended to be
played by Dustin Hoffman and Gilda Radner. Hoffman left over a
dispute over the hiring of Jules Feiffer as the scriptwriter. Radner
was the studio choice, but Altman held out for Duvall.

Popeye was co-produced by Paramount and Disney. Their intent was to
duplicate the success Warner Brothers had with Superman (starring
Williams’ former classmate and close friend, Reeve). At the time, the
studios saw cartoon and comic strip characters as more or less equal.
So the thought was that Popeye should be a Superman-sized hit.

Reviews were mixed and the movie was considered a flop. In reality,
it earned back its $20 million dollar budget and then some. But its
domestic gross of just under $50 million was a disappointment to the
studios involved.


In 1982, Williams took a dramatic turn in the adaptation of John
Irving’s novel, The World According to Garp.

Williams played Garp, the bastard son of a feminist leader. The movie
covers his life starting with his birth. Garp’s life is a series of
tragic-comic episodes as he struggles with complex gender issues.
Glenn Close, who was only four years older than Williams, played his
mother. And John Lithgow played a transsexual friend.

Williams’ friend, Christopher Reeve, was approached to play Garp but
turned the role down.

Reviews were mixed, but generally positive. Janet Maslin of the New
York Times said, “”The movie is a very fair rendering of Mr. Irving’s
novel, with similar strengths and weaknesses. If the novel was
picaresque and precious, so is the film – although the absence of the
book’s self-congratulatory streak helps the movie achieve a much
lighter, more easy-going style.”

In 1983, Williams starred opposite Walter Matthau in the comedy, The
Survivors.

Williams and Matthau play two hard-luck cases who become heroes when
they meet at a bar and prevent a robbery. The robber escapes and
tries to take revenge which sends the two men to a survival camp where
they learn to defend themselves. And maybe, just maybe, they learn a
little something about friendship too.

The Survivors received negative reviews and flopped at the box
office. Many critics complained that Williams’ and Matthau’s comedic
styles were not complimentary.

In 1984, Williams starred as a Russian immigrant in Paul Mazursky’s
comedy-drama, Moscow on the Hudson.

Williams played a saxophone-playing circus performer who defects to
the US. The movie deals with his struggles to adjust to American
culture. To prepare, Williams spent a year learning to speak
Russian. He has put all that practice to good use as he has been
doing his Russian shtick ever since. He also spent several months
learning to play the sax. Reportedly, he picked up both skills very
quickly.

Moscow on the Hudson received good reviews and was a modest hit at the
box office. Williams was nominated for his first Golden Globe.

In 1986, Williams co-starred opposite Kurt Russell in the football
comedy, The Best of Times.

Williams played a banker who is haunted every day by the day he
dropped a perfect pass during a big high school football game. He
believes that if he had caught the ball, his life would be better.
Thirteen years later, he convinces both teams to stage a rematch.

The Best of Times was written by Ron Shelton who went on to write and
direct several sports movies including Bull Durham, White Men Can’t
Jump and Tin Cup. It was directed by Roger Spottiswoode who is
Canadian and didn’t have the best grasp of American football.
Williams later admitted that he may not have been the best choice to
direct the film.

The movie received mostly negative reviews and flopped at the box
office.

Later that year, Williams starred opposite Peter O’Toole in Harld
Ramis’ tropical comedy, Club Paradise.

Williams played a firefighter who is injured on the job and uses his
disability money to retire to a small island in the Caribbean. There,
he meets and befriends a reggae musician with whom he markets Club
Paradise as a tourist spot.

Originally, the main roles were written for Bill Murray and John
Cleese. The rest of the cast includes several SCTV alumni including
Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, Joe Flaherty and Robin
Duke. Ramis and co-writer Brian Doyle-Murray were also on SCTV.

One of the writers credited with the story is Ed Roboto. This is
actually a pseudonym for Harry Shearer who did a re-write of the
film. According to Shearer, the only contribution he made to the
movie that ended up being used was the title. Disgusted with the
final film, he demanded that his name be removed from the credits.

As you might expect given its troubled background, Club Paradise
received negative reviews and flopped at the box office. Following
the failure of Club Paradise, Ramis would not direct another movie for
seven years.

Also in 1986, Williams took a dramatic turn as an out-of-work salesman
in Seize the Day.

Williams also joined Billy Crystal and Whoopi Goldberg as hosts for
the first Comic Relief. Since then, the trio of actors have been
hosting specials on HBO to raise money for the homeless.

In 1987, Williams bounced back in a big way starring in Barry
Levinson’s Good Morning, Vietnam.

Williams played military DJ Adrian Cronauer who lightens up the war
with his blend of irreverent humor and rock and roll music. The real-
life Cronauer originally pitched his idea for a TV sitcom. But the
networks were not interested. Then he wrote a draft as a TV movie of
the week which attracted Williams to the project.

With Williams attached, Cronauer’s script was re-written from
scratch. The final product is described by Cronauer as “45%
accurate”. In reality, Cronauer did not use comedy in his show, he
was not anti-war and he was not kicked out of the military.

Levinson allowed Williams to improvise his broadcasts which allowed
Williams to cut loose in a way his scripted roles did not.

Reviews were positive and the movie was a big hit. Williams was
nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe.

In 1988, Williams had a cameo role in Terry Gilliam’s mad fantasy, The
Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen was a famously troubled movie.
Like most Gilliam movies, the flights of fancy put the film over
budget. A regime change at the studio meant that its US distributors
weren’t especially excited about promoting Munchausen. So they dumped
it in relatively few theaters with little fanfare.

Sean Connery was originally attached to play the King of the Moon. He
had made a similar cameo in Gilliam’s Time Bandits. But when the part
was cut down, Connery backed out claiming the role wasn’t very
“kingly”.

Although Baron Munchausen flopped in the US, it fared better
overseas. Reviews were mostly positive and the film has developed a
cult following.

In 1989, Williams too a flashy supporting role in Peter Weir’s coming
of age drama, Dead Poets Society.

Williams played an unconventional teacher at a private school for boys
in the late 50′s. Like Good Morning, Vietnam, Dead Poets Society
allowed Williams to break into his improvisational comedy while giving
lectures to his class. It also allowed Williams to give his most
restrained dramatic performance to date.

Liam Neeson was originally cast as the teacher who changes the boys’
lives, but when Weir came on board as director, he brought on Williams
instead. Prior to that, Dustin Hoffman considered making Dead Poets
Society his directorial debut. If he had, he would have played John
Keating.

The original script ended with Williams’ character dying of leukemia.
But Weir cut that in order to focus the story on the students.

Dead Poets Society received mostly positive reviews. Roger Ebert was
one prominent critic who gave the film a mixed review saying, “The
movie pays lip service to qualities and values that, on the evidence
of the screenplay itself, it is cheerfully willing to abandon.”
Although the movie never reached #1 at the box office, it was a
sleeper hit. Williams was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe.

In 1999, Williams starred opposite Tim Robbins in Cadillac Man.

Williams played a sleazy car salesman. He’s got mistresses played by
Fran Drescher and Lori Petty. Robbins played a desperate man who
holds the car dealership hostage because he believes his wife (played
by Annabella Sciorra) is cheating on him.

Reviews were mixed and the movie was not a hit.

Later that year, Williams starred opposite Robert DeNiro in Penny
Marshall’s Awakenings. (Much was made of the fact Laverne was
directing Mork.)

Williams played a doctor based on British neurologist, Oliver Sacks.
The movie was an adaptation of Sacks’ book of the same name in which
he detailed his treatment of catatonic patients. DeNiro played
Williams’ most promising patient.

Stephen Spielberg was once attached to direct. He was impressed with
Steven Zaillian’s script and later hired him to adapt Schindler’s
List. Bill Murray was interested in playing the patient role. But
Marshall was concerned that casting Williams and Murray would make
people think it was a comedy.

Awakenings received mostly positive reviews and was a hit at the box
office. Williams was nominated for another Golden Globe.

In 1991, Williams had a cameo role in Kenneth Branagh’s reincarnation-
themed thriller, Dead Again.

Branagh played an LA private investigator who is hired to help
identify a woman with amnesia played by Emma Thompson. As the two try
to uncover her past, they fall for each other. Eventually, they come
to suspect that they are actually reincanated from a couple that died
tragically. They turn to a disgraced psychiatrist played by Williams
for help.

Williams’ part was relatively small. He asked to have his name
removed from the opening credits so audiences wouldn’t mistake the
film for a comedy.

Dead Again received mostly positive reviews and was a modest hit at
the box office.

Later that year, Williams starred opposite Jeff Bridges in Terry
Gilliam’s urban fable, The Fisher King.

Bridges played a “shock jock” whose thoughtless comments on the air
lead a disturbed caller to commit mass murder. Three years later,
Bridges’ character has become despondent. He is attacked and nearly
killed by thugs, but he is saved by a homeless person played by
Williams. Bridges’ character seeks redemption by helping Williams’
character in return.

The Fisher King received good reviews and performed respectably at the
box office. Williams won his second Golden Globe for Best Actor.

Williams ended the year starring opposite Dustin Hoffman in Stephen
Spielberg’s Peter Pan update, Hook.

Williams played a grown-up Peter Pan. Dustin Hoffman played Captain
Hook who kidnap’s Pan’s children to lure him back to Neverland.
Unfortunately, Williams’ grown-up character has no memory of his
adventures as Pan. With the help of Tinker Bell (played by Julia
Roberts) and the Lost Boys, Pan has to reconnect with his youth in
order to save his children.

On paper, Hook looked great. Williams always seemed like an aging
Peter Pan anyway. Spielberg had been phenomenally successful making
films for kids. Toss in Hoffman at the peak of his popularity and
Roberts just as her star was on the rise and Hook seemed like a sure-
fire hit.

I recall reading a cover article in Premiere Magazine when Hook came
out. They talked a lot about the magnificent Neverland sets which
cost a fortune. Everyone on the set was convinced that they were
making a timeless masterpiece. They were convinced Hook would be
watched over and over again for generations like The Wizard of Oz.

Williams, Spielberg and Hoffman were so confident that they gave up
their salaries in favor of a percentage deal. It turned out to be a
bad trade-off. Hook was a bloated mess of a movie. Reviews were
mostly negative. While the film did turn a profit, it did not perform
up to expectations.

In 1992, Williams was all over the place. He had a cameo role as a
mime instructor in Bobcat Goldthwait’s directorial debut, Shakes the
Clown. He also did voice work in the animated feature, Ferngully: The
Last Rainforest which included the voices of Tim Curry and Christian
Slater.

Williams also did voice work for Disney’s animated feature, Aladdin.
Williams provided the Genie’s voice for scale – the lowest wage a
studio can pay an actor). He did this on several conditions. He did
not want his voice used for merchandise and he didn’t want his
character to take up more than 25% of the film’s poster. Williams had
another family film which would be released a few weeks later and he
didn’t want it to have to compete with Aladdin.

Disney broke all of these promises immediately. I recall Disney sent
me a huge promotional poster that featured nothing but Williams’ Genie
character. His voice was used for toys for the Christmas season.
Williams was furious. He refused to have anything further to do with
Disney.

A few years later, Disney decided to make direct-to-video sequels to
Aladdin. Williams refused to reprise his role so the part was recast
with Dan Castellaneta (the voice of Homer Simpson). Disney CEO,
Michael Eisner, sent Williams a peace-offering in the form of a
Picasso painting. Williams refused the gift.

Eventually, Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg was fired and replaced
by Joe Roth. Roth issued a public apology and promised to do right by
Williams. This time, Williams accepted the apology and agreed to
return for the second Aladdin sequel. Disney was thrilled. Even
though Castellaneta had already recorded the Genie’s voice, Disney
allowed Williams to re-record them. This time, Williams did not work
for scale.

Williams ended the year by reuniting with his Good Morning, Vietnam
director, Barry Levinson, for the anti-war Christmas movie, Toys.

Williams played the son of a dying toy maker. The soul of his
father’s toy company depends on his ability to step up and take
control of the company. Otherwise, it will fall into the hands of the
toy maker’s militant brother who plans to build an army of war toys.

Toys aims for whimsy and over-shoots by several miles. What is meant
to be charming ends up being grating. Especially when the heavy-
handed anti-war message kicks in. The movie ends with a war between
the old-fashioned toys and the military monstrosities. It feels like
Dr. Strangelove for the toddler set.

Reviews were mostly negative and the movie flopped at the box office.

In 1994, Williams starred in Being Human, a quiet movie about the
human condition. The movie consists of five fables from different
points in history. It’s the kind of movie that Williams seems to be
attracted to. It’s also the kind of movie audiences avoid and studios
hate.

Warner Bros spent $40 million on Being Human. When they saw the first
cut, they demanded changes. The movie’s run time was cut by 40
minutes, narration was added as well as a happy ending. The changes
were for naught. The movie got mixed reviews and flopped at the box
office.

Later that year, Williams rebounded with Chris Columbus’ high-concept
comedy, Mrs. Doubtfire.

Williams played an out-of-work voice actor who dresses in drag and
poses as a British housekeeper in order to spend more time with his
kids. It’s the kind of movie where the biggest laugh comes from
setting Williams’ fake boobs on fire. Basically, it’s a low rent
Tootsie crossed with your run-of-the-mill family flick. The best
thing to come out of the movie was Mrs. Featherbottom on Arrested
Development.



Am I being too hard on Mrs. Doubtfire? Probably. Reviews were mostly
positive. And the movie was a smash hit. To this day, it is the
highest-grossing movie Williams has starred in. Not only that, he won
another Golden Globe.



In 1995, Williams was huge. He was so in demand, he was appearing
everywhere. He had a supporting role in Nine Months, a pregnancy-
themed comedy which starred Hugh Grant and Julianne Moore. Williams
hammed it up as a Russian OB-GYN.

Just before the release of Nine Months, star Grant was involved in a
scandal for picking up prostitute Divine Brown. Grant appeared on The
Tonight Show With Jay Leno to promote the movie and issued a very
caddish apology for his bad behavior. Audiences couldn’t resist
Grant’s British charm. Grant recovered from the scandal and The
Tonight Show saw a rating spike.

In spite of bad reviews and public scandal, Nine Months was a hit at
the box office.

Around this same time, Williams’ friend, Christopher Reeve, was
paralyzed in a horse-riding accident. Williams came to visit Reeve at
the hospital. To cheer him up, he went into his Russian doctor shtick
and claimed to be performing a colonoscopy. Reeve claimed that was
the first time he had laughed since the accident and that he knew
things would be okay.

Williams also popped up in a cameo role in the drag comedy, To Wong
Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar.

Williams ended 1995 by starring in the big screen family adventure
film, Jumanji.

Jumanji was based on a popular children’s book in which a board game
brings the dangers of the jungle to life. Williams played a man who
had been trapped inside the game for twenty-six years. Bonnie Hunt
played Williams’ childhood friend. And a young Kirsten Dunst played
one of the children who sets the game loose.

The special effects-driven movie got mixed reviews but was a hit at
the box office.

In 1996, Williams’ starred in Mike Nichols’ remake of the French
farce, La Cage aux Folles, The Birdcage.

Williams and Nathan Lane played a gay couple whose son is engaged to
the daughter of a conservative Republican senator from Ohio (is there
any other kind?) played by Gene Hackman. The daughter, played by
Calista Flockhart, lies to her parents to make her fiance’s life sound
more traditional. Williams and Lane are forced to act out the lies
when the senator and his wife (Diane Wiest) come to visit.

Originally, Steve Martin was cast in Williams role and Williams was to
play Lane’s part. But when Martin dropped out due to a schedule
conflict, Williams asked to be recast in the less flamboyant role.
Nichols agreed and cast Broadway actor Lane opposite Williams. Lane
and Williams were both known for improvisation, so Nichols insisted
they get at least one good take per scene according to the script
before he would allow them to improvise.

The Birdcage got positive reviews and was a hit at the box office.

Williams followed up The Birdcage with Francis Ford Coppola’s dreadful
“comedy”, Jack.

Williams played Jack, a boy with a rare disease that causes him to age
four times faster than normal. So at age 10, he looks like Robin
Williams. This allowed Williams to do his boy-in-a-middle-aged=man
schtick. Because of similarities to Big, Tom Hanks was the first
choice for the role. But unlike Big, Jack is a terrible movie. The
broad humor isn’t very funny. And where Big was a fantasy, Jack is
actually racing towards an early death.

Reviews were terrible. Even Williams’ popularity at the time couldn’t
save Jack at the box office.

Later that year, Williams returned to the role of the Genie in Disney
direct to video sequel, Aladdin and the King of Thieves. He also
reunited with Dead Again director and co-star, Kenneth Branagh, for a
cameo role in Branagh’s Hamlet.



1997 was a very big year for Williams. Arguably, it was the biggest
year of his career. But it started off rather poorly. Williams
starred opposite his long time friend and Comic Relief co-host, Billy
Crystal in Ivan Reitman’s Father’s Day.

Crystal and Williams played two very different men who are both told
by the same woman that they are the father of her son. The two men
team up to find the missing boy and determine who is the real father.

To promote the movie, Williams and Crystal made several appearances
including one on Friends. Their appearance is completely unrelated to
the rest of the episode. They play two guys who happen to run into
the gang at Central Perk. Williams does his schtick while Crystal
plays straight man.

But nothing could save Father’s Day. Reviews were terrible and the
movie flopped.

Fortunately, Williams had patched things up with Disney. Later that
year, he starred in Disney’s remake of the 1961 comedy, The Absent-
Minded Professor.

The remake was written by John Hughes and given the more marketable
name of Flubber. Williams played an absent-minded professor who
invents a miraculous substance called Flubber – so named because it is
like flying rubber.

Flubber followed the pattern of the special-effects-heavy family film,
Jumanji. Like that film, reviews were negative. But families turned
out in droves and made Flubber a hit.

Williams’ performance in Flubber is immortalized in the Imagination
Institute at Disney’s Epcot alongside Eric Idle and Rick Moranis (as
Honey I Shrunk the Kids inventor, Wayne Szalnski). Note to Disney:
It’s time to update Epcot! Future World shouldn’t look like an ode to
the mid-nineties.

Moving on…

Williams followed up the commercial success of Flubber with a dramatic
turn in Gus Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting.

Matt Damon, who wrote the screenplay with good pal, Ben Affleck,
played a genius who works as a janitor at MIT. Damon’s character is
troubled and in trouble with the law. But when his genius is
revealed, he is put under the treatment of a psychology professor
played by Williams.

Goodwill Hunting has become a piece of Hollywood legend. Damon and
Affleck got a lot of attention for writing their own screenplay when
they were unable to get parts they liked.

Their original script was a thriller which involved the FBI trying to
recruit Will. Rob Reiner urged them to drop the espionage aspects of
the script and to focus on the relationship between Damon and
Williams’ characters. At Reiner’s request, William Goldman read the
screenplay and made further suggestions.

This has led to persistent rumors that Goldman either wrote or script
doctored Good Will Hunting. Goldman has consistently denied these
rumors although he had playful fun with the idea in his book, Which
Lie Did I Tell? In the book, Goldman jokes: “I did not just doctor
it. I wrote the whole thing from scratch.”

The movie was set up at Reiner’s company, Castle Rock. While they
loved the script, they balked at the idea of Damon and Affleck acting
in the film. Fortunately, Damon and Affleck were friends with
director Kevin Smith. Smith helped his friends out by persuading
Miramax to purchase Good Will Hunting from Castle Rock.

Once the movie was set up at Miramax, several directors were
considered including Mel Gibson, Michael Mann and Steven Soderbergh.
Affleck asked Smith if he would be interested in directing. Smith had
the good sense to decline saying that this movie needed “a good
director”. Damon and Affleck eventually settled on Van Sant.

Good Will Hunting received positive reviews and was a hit at the box
office. It received a lot of attention come awards time. Damon and
Affleck won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for their screenplay.
Williams was nominated for a Golden Globe and won an Oscar for Best
Supporting Actor.

Williams also popped up in Woody Allen’s comedy, Deconstructing
Harry.

Deconstructing Harry is one of Allen’s lesser works. Reviews were
mixed and the movie flopped at the box office. It is notable because
it allowed Williams a chance to work with yet another A-list
director. Now he just needs to make a movie with Scorsese.

1997 is the year when everything came together. While Williams would
still have successes in his later career, he would never again reach
these heights. 1998 is when things officially started to dip.

First Williams starred in the metaphysical drama, What Dreams May
Come.

Williams and Annabella Sciorra played a couple whose children die in a
car crash. They struggle to keep their marriage together only to have
Williams’ character also die in a car crash. Williams’ tries to help
his widow deal with the grief, but eventually he realizes that he is
only making things worse so he moves on to the afterlife.

Cuba Gooding Jr. played his spiritual adviser on the other side.
Williams’ journeys take him through Heaven and Hell without being
especially interesting.

What Dreams May Come got mixed reviews and disappointed at the box
office.

During Williams’ career, he has worked with some of the best directors
in Hollywood. He also worked with Tom Shadyac who is best known for
making movies with Jim Carrey. Shadyac decided to stretch with the
medical comedy-drama, Patch Adams. And the end result is one of the
worst movies ever made.

Everything that is wrong with the movie is pictured above. Williams
plays a doctor who just wants to make people laugh. So he puts on a
clown nose which is really more annoying than funny. The big, mean
establishment frowns on Williams’ unconventional bedside manner. So
Williams has to fight the system so that doctors everywhere will be
allowed to put brightly colored rubber on their noses.

The movie has the gall to use actual kids with cancer in order to pull
at the heart-strings. But it doesn’t stop there. Patch Adams will do
anything to emotionally manipulate the audience including an
awkwardly handled plot twists which moves the film into melodrama.

Everything about this movie is hacky. In Roger Ebert’s review, he
noted, “Patch Adams made me want to spray the screen with Lysol. This
movie is shameless. It’s not merely a tearjerker. It extracts tears
individually by liposuction, without anesthesia.”

Reviews were deservedly terrible. And yet, the movie was still a hit
with audiences who had not yet tired of Williams’ mix of crude humor
and pathos.
In 1999, Williams’ slide continued with the World War 2-era drama,
Jakob the Liar.

Williams played a Jewish shop-keeper who tells fantastic lies to give
hope to the residents of his Polish ghetto. The movie was unfavorably
compared to the 1997 hit, Life is Beautiful.

In his review, Roger Ebert stated, “I prefer “Life Is Beautiful,”
which is clearly a fantasy, to “Jakob the Liar,” which is just as
contrived and manipulative but pretends it is not… Williams is a
talented performer who moves me in the right roles but has a weakness
for the wrong ones. The screenplay and direction are lugubrious, as
the characters march in their overwritten and often overacted roles
toward a foregone conclusion.”

That sums it up much better than I ever could. Jakob the Liar
received terrible reviews and flopped at the box office.

In 1999, Williams reunited with his Nine Months director, Chris
Columbus, for the sci-fi drama, Bicentennial Man.

Bicentennial Man was based on a book by science fiction legend, Isaac
Asimov. Williams plays a robot who over the course of 200 years
becomes more and more human.

Disney was nervous about the movie’s budget which was over 100 million
dollars. They slashed the budget by $20 million which angered
Williams. When the movie was released, it flopped at the box office.
Williams blamed Disney’s budget cuts as well as their marketing which
resulted in another falling out.

Reviews were mixed to negative. Williams was nominated for his first
Razzie Award for Worst Actor for the 1-2 punch of Jakob and
Bicentennial Man.

In 2001, Williams appeared in a voice-over as Dr. Know in Stephen
Spielberg’s A.I.

Haley Joel Osment played a robot who with the help of another robot
played by Jude Law seeks to become a real boy. Williams provided the
voice for an Einstein-like hologram who helps them along in their
mission.

Williams had collaborated with Spielberg previously on Hook. But he
actually recorded his performance for legendary director, Stanley
Kubrick. After Kubrick’s death, Spielberg (who was a friend of
Kubrick’s) finished developing the film and directed it himself.

In 2002, Williams starred opposite Edward Norton in Danny DeVito’s
dark comedy, Death to Smoochy.

Williams played the host of a children’s TV show who is publicly
disgraced for his terrible off-camera behavior. Norton plays his
replacement, a squeeky-clean Barney-like rhino named Smoochy.
Williams character goes to extreme lengths to get rid of his
competition so he can get his show back.

Reviews were terrible. Ebert said, “Only enormously talented people
could have made Death to Smoochy. Those with lesser gifts would have
lacked the nerve to make a film so bad, so miscalculated, so lacking
any connection with any possible audience. To make a film this awful,
you have to have enormous ambition and confidence, and dream big
dreams.”

Death to Smoochy tanked at the box office.

Later that year, Williams starred opposite Al Pacino in Christopher
Nolan’s thriller, Insomnia.

Williams took a seriously dark turn as an author suspected of killing
a 17-year-old girl. Pacino played the unstable cop tasked with
solving the crime. But Pacino has secrets of his own which result in
his insomnia.

Reviews were positive and the movie was a hit at the box office.

Later that year, Williams starred in another psychological thriller,
One Hour Photo.

Williams played Sy, a desperately lonely man who works at a photo
booth. His work is his life. Slowly, he becomes obsessed with the
seemingly idyllic life of a family for whom he develops photos.

Reviews were mostly positive and One Hour Photo was a modest hit at
the box office. Williams seemed to be reinventing himself yet again.

In 2004, Williams’ co-starred opposite Anton Yelchin in David
Duchovny’s directorial debut, House of D.

Williams played a mentally challenged janitor who befriends a young
boy who will eventually grow up to be Duchovny. The movie was
screened at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival. Reviews were negative and
the movie flopped.

Later that year, Williams starred in the sci-fi drama, The Final Cut.

In the future, many people have implants that record their entire
lives. Williams played a “cutter” – someone responsible for editing
that person’s life into a movie that will be shown at their funeral.
Mira Sorvino co-starred as his girlfriend.

Despite a premise that had a lot of potential, The Final Cut received
mostly negative reviews and disappointed at the box office.

In 2005, Williams did voice work for the non-Disney animated feature,
Robots. One gets the sense Williams would do any voice work offered
to him in order to upset Disney.

Robots, which also included the voices of Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry
and Greg Kinnear, got mostly positive reviews and was a hit at the box
office.

Later that year, Williams starred in the seriously dark comedy, The
Big White.

Williams played a travel agent in debt who finds a corpse in the
dumpster. He decides to use the corpse to cash in on his missing
brother’s insurance policy. However, the corpse was the result of a
mob hit and the hitmen need it to collect their pay. In order to get
their money, the kidnap Williams’ wife who was played by Holly Hunter.

Additional complications arise in the form of a determined insurance
agent played by Giovanni Ribisi and the return of Williams’ missing
brother played by Woody Harrelson.

Reviews were bad and the movie disappointed at the box office.

Williams’ output increased in 2006. He started the year with Barry
Levinson’s family comedy, RV.

Williams played a man who took his family to America’s Favorite Family
Fun Park. No wait, that isn’t right. Instead, he takes his family
for a trip in an RV so they can reconnect.

Reviews were negative, but RV was a small hit.

Next, Williams starred opposite Toni Collette in the psychological
thriller, The Night Listener.

Williams played a radio host who takes a call from a young boy. The
boy describes a history of sexual abuse. He has been adopted by a
woman played by Collette. Eventually, he comes to expect that the boy
is not real. He becomes obsessed with finding out whether or not
Collette is pretending to be the troubled boy.

Reviews were mixed to negative. The low-budget movie was barely a
presence at the box office.

Williams’ also did voice work for Everyone’s Hero, a baseball-themed
animated feature directed by the late, Christopher Reeve. Reeve was
working on the film when he died. It opened to mixed reviews and
moderate box office.

Williams also starred in another Barry Levinson film (his second in
2006), Man of the Year.

Williams plays a Jon Stewart-like political comedian who ends up
running for president. Reviews were negative and the movie
disappointed at the box office.

Williams continued doing voice work for anyone who was not Disney. He
provided a voice for the animated hit, Happy Feet which also included
the voices of Elijah Wood, Brittany Murphy and Nicole Kidman.

Williams ended the year with a supporting role in the comic adventure,
Night at the Museum.

Ben Stiller played a night watchman at a museum who discovers that
after the museum closes, the exhibits come to life. Williams played a
wax model of Theodore Roosevelt.

Night at the Museum got mixed reviews but was a huge hit at the box
office.

In 2007, Williams starred as an eccentric priest in the romantic
comedy, License to Wed.

Mandy Moore and “Jim from The Office” (John Krasinski) played a couple
who moves up their wedding from three months away to three weeks away
in order to get a rare wedding slot in their church of preference.
Williams plays a priest who subjects the couple to a bizarre form of
marriage counseling meant to irritate them. Because this is a
romantic comedy everyone acts like they have a head full of rocks.
Otherwise they would do the sensible thing and get married at a church
where the priest wasn’t Mork.

Despite horrid reviews, License to Wed did okay at the box office.

Later that year, Williams grew in some crazy facial hair for the
country music drama, August Rush.

Williams played a vagrant country musician who takes in homeless
children and teaches them to play music. He then employs them as
street performers. He takes in a new boy who is a savant. When he
recognizes the boy’s talent, he gives him the stage name August Rush
and tries to promote him. However, he is also possessive and
controlling of his newfound star.

August Rush opened to mixed to negative reviews and did so-so at the
box office.

Since the first Night at the Museum was such a big hit, Williams
returned for the sequel, Night at the Museum: Battle of the
Smithsonian.

Thankfully the sequel answered all the burning questions left
unanswered in the first film Questions like… um, okay I admit I have
never seen either of these movies. But I hear kids like them pretty
well.

Despite mixed reviews, the sequel was another smash hit. It’s only a
matter of time before Night of the Museum 3: Battle for More Money.

Later that year, Williams starred in the pitch-black comedy World’s
Greatest Dad which was directed by Shakes the Clown director, Bobcat
Goldthwait.

Williams played a poetry teacher and frustrated author with an unruly
15-year-old son. His son attends the school where he teaches and is
constantly embarrassing him with his bad behavior. One day, Williams
finds that his son has accidentally strangled himself in an autoerotic
asphyxiation accident. To avoid embarrassment, he writes a fake
suicide note to make it seem as though his son’s death was
intentional.

World’s Greatest Dad received largely positive reviews. But no
surprise given its dark subject matter, it flopped at the box office.

Williams once again made peace with Disney. He was inducted into the
Disney Hall of Fame as a Disney Legend. As part of their reforged
partnership, Williams starred opposite John Travolta in the Disney
comedy, Old Dogs.

Travolta and Williams play pals who have their world turned upside
down when Williams’ ex shows up with twins. She informs Williams that
the twins are his and she need him to take care of them while she
serves time in jail for environmental work. And then, for some
reason. Seth Green is raped by a gorilla and Walt Disney spins in his
grave (or he would if he wasn’t cremated).

Okay, it’s possible the gorilla rape was merely implies by the
trailer, the poster and all the film’s promotional material. Due to
horrible reviews, I haven’t watched Old Dogs. Gorilla rape just
doesn’t make me laugh the way it does some people. But enough people
wanted to see Seth Green raped by a gorilla to make Old Dogs a modest
financial success.

In 2011, Williams lent his voice to Happy Feet 2. The sequel was less
successful than the original.

In 2013, Williams appears as part of an elderly ensemble in The Big
Wedding.

Once again, Williams plays a priest. The ensemble cast includes such
heavy-weights as Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton and Susan Sarandon.
Somehow Katherine Heigl snuck past security and made it into the
movie.

The Big Wedding has received terrible reviews so far. However,
judging by Williams’ recent track record, it will probably do all
right at the box office. There seems to be a core group of fans who
will go see any movie Williams is in regardless of the reviews so long
as he isn’t playing a serial killer.

So, what the hell happened?

First, I have to confess I was shocked by how many of Williams’ later
movies were not the box office disasters I had assumed they were. He
has been hitting a lot of base hits for the last several years. Since
Bicentennial Man, most of his movies have had low enough budgets that
they didn’t need to make a lot of money at the box office.

Even so, Williams isn’t the A-list star he once was. He is even held
up as an object of ridicule. People complain frequently that Williams
isn’t funny any more. His recent movies make you wonder if he was
ever really funny to begin with.

Over time, I think Williams’ shtick got old. Fortunately, he was able
to reinvent himself as a dramatic actor. But then all of his sappy,
“uplifting” movies got tiresome too. When that happened, Williams
went dark. Amazingly, he was able to pull that off as well. Until
audiences got sick of edgy Williams. Eventually, all that left him
was the sanitized family-friendly Williams who bores most audiences
today – while grossing just enough money to keep him working.

Recently, Williams singed a deal to return to TV. His new show is
bound to be more sedate and formulaic than Mork and Mindy was. But
there seems to be an audience for that. So Williams’ latest
transition just might work.