# Bicentennial Man (1999)

### reviewed by
Mac VerStandig

    Bicentennial Man
    1 Star (Out of 4)
    Reviewed by Mac VerStandig
    critic@moviereviews.org
    http://www.moviereviews.org

***Moviereviews.org has been asked to start collecting a list of readers in the Washington, DC area who would be interested in attending advanced promotional screenings of major motion pictures for free. If this interests you, please e-mail Moviereviews.org at passes@moviereviews.org with your name and zip code (to verify that you are in the Washington, DC area). Then check back at Moviereviews.org (http://www.moviereviews.org) as often as you like to see what screenings you could be eligible to attend!***

---Starting on Christmas Eve you can hear Mac VerStandig's movie reviews on the radio in Portland, Maine once a week in addition to reading them on Moviereviews.org. Details on time and dial placement still to come. Stay tuned!---

*** A copy of this review can be found at http://www.moviereviews.org/bicentennial_man.htm ***

Bicentennial Man is an impuissant and confused movie that follows a robot through 200 years neglecting to ever develop another character in depth or share with the audience that the title-referenced bicentennial will mark the end of a journey that seems to be equally as long and laborious for the audience. Director Chris Columbus' film centers around a not-very-entertaining Robin Williams as Andrew, the aforementioned machine, and his trials and tribulations which are as unexplored as the West Indies that other guy named Columbus supposedly discovered.

In "the not too distant future" we meet the Martin family and their newest household appliance: Andrew. Our protagabot ventures from generation to generation of a cliched and overly dull Martin family- mostly women. He also comes across a few other humans and robots, but none interesting enough to warrant any attention in this review. They come and go, Andrew stays, and the movie limps it way through a Jetsons-style future setting.

Now banished to a fate worse than ordinary reruns, TV Land, there was a delightful 1960's Don Adams show (that Fox unsuccessfully tried to bring back a few years ago) called Get Smart. Richard Gautier, a relative unknown that never ventured past G. I. Joe fame, played Hymie the Robot. Much like Andrew, Hymie was a machine that actively sought life and commonly found himself in hilarious situations were his inner-workings were experimented with ineptly. Hymie was friendly and romantic, yet inevitably robotic. Richard Gautier may not be Robin Williams, but the show is just as funny and doesn't cost $7.75 and an otherwise good Friday or Saturday night.

The positive end of this almost-dead battery does have some traits of which to boast. In a time where they are rare, Bicentennial Man is a movie that you needn't be embarrassed to take Grandma and the tots to. Robin Williams is very funny and touching with some traditional Disney tear-jerking scenes. The explanation offered of sex is edited to a level of general appropriateness. But the movie is even confused about its family traits as we learn that being human is the ultimate accomplishment and you needn't mourn the dead (for all those that pass away, only one tear is seen). We are also told that imperfection is the key to life and marriage can be taken lightly.

This film also marks 1999's Christmas time family film that most wants to be the next Miracle on 34th Street or It's a Wonderful Life. Last year, Chris Columbus entered Stepmom into this notorious yet largely unspoken contest, following his slightly more appealing earlier bids which include Home Alone and Mrs. Doubtfire. Mr. Capra, rest assured, we don't need a robot to locate the West Indies.

The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews