Netflix Self-Torture Experiment Trilogy #26: Toys
This was a suggestion from @essdogg.
Synopsis from Netflix: Robin Williams stars as Leslie Zevo, a fun-loving inventor who must save his late father’s toy factory from his evil uncle, Leland (Michael Gambon), a war-mongering general who rules the operation with an iron fist and builds weapons disguised as toys. LL Cool J and Joan Cusack co-star in Barry Levinson’s loopy comedy, which received a Razzie nomination for worst director but two Oscar nods for Best Costume Design and Art Direction.
My thoughts (minor spoiler included): I don’t think there’s any type of movie I dislike more than a comedy that isn’t funny; you can tell when you’re supposed to be laughing, but you’re just not amused. It’s awkward, really, even though the actors obviously can’t see you rolling your eyes at them in disbelief.
This unfortunate genre of film is taken to a different level when Robin Williams portrays the main character. He tries so hard to make joke after joke, but seems to have forgotten that he hasn’t been entertaining since Dead Poets Society (okay, maybe Aladdin).
I started to think that Toys might have a pretty cool ending when the climactic scene pitted a bunch of creepy remote control fighters in a battle against a bunch of creepy wind-up toys, but even that got overshadowed when all of a sudden Robin Williams’ sister gets shot and you find out she was a robot the whole time. What the fuck? Why had she been flirting with LL Cool J for half the movie? That’s a style of creepy that I would prefer to avoid, thank you very much. [One out of five stars.]
