The Angriest Man in Brooklyn
The two sides of Robin Williams— the shouting-face-puller and the blubbering feel-good comic— are here for us to see in this pleasant but ultimately clunky indie film.
Some people have bad days, Henry Altmann (Williams) has one every day. Always unhappy and angry at the world including everyone in it, Henry sits impatiently at the doctor's office when he is finally seen by Dr. Sharon Gill (Kunis).
Sharon, who is enduring her own bad day, reveals that Henry has a brain aneurysm. This news makes Henry even angrier, yelling at Sharon he demands to know how much time he has left. Faced with Henry's anger and insults, Sharon abruptly tells him he has only 90 minutes.
Shocked and reeling by this news, Henry storms out of the office leaving Sharon stunned by what she has just done in a lapse of judgment. As Sharon goes on a city-wide search, Henry struggles with his diagnosis, determined to make amends with everyone he has hurt in his life.
Angriest Man in Brooklyn has some nice touches
Angriest Man in Brooklyn has some nice touches, but as the film develops they become irregular. Despite boasting an array of talent, The Angriest Man in Brooklyn fails to succeed in using these actors to elevate the film beyond it’s intriguing premise.
We’ve seen Williams play angry before, and play it well. Here, he plays angry just fine, but he’s hardly worthy of the films namesake. He’s angry but no more angrier than your average middle aged grump.
The events of his son dying made Altman slump into this miserable existence and neglect his other son— with whom he has hardly any sort of viable relationship with for many years. This does contain the emotional pulling power this movies structure dictates, but it could’ve so easily been worked into the story better.
Unfortunately, the events leading up to the finale— his reunion with his estranged son— kept becoming more outlandish the closer we came to the end. It’s unrealistic manner in how it is played out, distanced us from any sort of connection with these characters. The journey the script takes us on, has it’s fair share of pleasant and humorous moments— but it is ultimately a bumpy ride.
