"Robin Williams is Garp. He's got a funny way of looking at life."
A struggling young writer finds his life and work dominated by his unfaithful wife and his radical feminist mother, whose best-selling manifesto turns her into a cultural icon.
Robin Williams
T.S. Garp
Mary Beth Hurt
Helen Holm
Glenn Close
Jenny Fields
John Lithgow
Roberta Muldoon
Hume Cronyn
Mr. Fields
Jessica Tandy
Mrs. Fields
Swoosie Kurtz
The Hooker
Brenda Currin
Pooh
Peter Michael Goetz
John Wolfe
A struggling young writer finds his life and work dominated by his unfaithful wife and his radical feminist mother, whose best-selling manifesto turns her into a cultural icon.
My Robin Williams Retrospective: The World According to Garp (1982) Robin Williams surprises here with a character so unlike what we typically associate with him. T.S. Garp is lower energy, even-tempered, thoughtful; there's no manic improvisation, no volcanic bursts of comic energy. Instead, Williams plays restraint, playing a man navigating the absurdities and tragedies of his peculiar life with quiet determination. He's grounded, present, entirely credible as a writer and father trying to make sense of a world that keeps intruding on his domestic aspirations. It's a beautiful performance, one that reminds us of Williams' incredible range, his ability to disappear into character rather than dominate the frame. The casting of John Lithgow as Roberta Muldoon is nothing short of brilliant. Lithgow brings warmth, humor, and complete authenticity to the role of the former football player turned trans woman. He could have played it as caricature; instead, he finds the humanity, the loyalty, the fierce friendship that defines Roberta. It's a performance that holds up remarkably well, tender and funny and utterly without condescension, earning him a well-deserved Oscar nomination. Glenn Close, in her film debut, delivers solid, commanding work as Jenny Fields, Garp's fiercely independent mother whose unconventional life and feminist manifesto make her a cultural lightning rod. Close embodies the character who spearheads the film's central question: can we tolerate viewpoints that challenge our own? Can we accept lifestyles that don't conform to societal norms? Her Oscar nomination was well deserved; she gives Jenny both strength and vulnerability, making her more than just an ideological figure. And the brief appearance of Amanda Plummer is a real treat, a small moment of connection that becomes even more resonant when you remember her later pairing with Williams in The Fisher King. Even here, you can see the chemistry, the way Williams meets unconventional energy with openness and generosity. This is Williams proving he could anchor a literary adaptation, that his gifts extended far beyond comedy into genuine dramatic range.
A man in his mid-20s, still living at home with his mother and stepfather, puts all his eggs in one basket: the girl who works at his local coffee shop. The problem is, she has a serious boyfriend. As they become closer, the line between friendship and intimacy is blurred, and the situation forces both to examine where they are in their lives.
A neurotic, twice-divorced sci-fi writer moves back in with his mother to solve his personal problems.
Susan Morrow receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband – a man she left 20 years earlier – asking for her opinion of his writing. As she reads, she is drawn into the fictional life of Tony Hastings, a mathematics professor whose family vacation turns violent.
"Boxcar" Bertha Thompson, a transient woman in Arkansas during the violence-filled Depression of the early '30s, meets up with rabble-rousing union man "Big" Bill Shelly and the two team up to fight the corrupt railroad establishment.
A famous horror writer finds inspiration for her next book after she and her husband take in a young couple.
In a time when pro wrestling for women was illegal all over the country, a small town single mother embraces the danger to change culture as she dominates America's most masculine sport to become the first million dollar female athlete in history.
The greatest Olympic Wrestling Champion brother team joins Team Foxcatcher led by multimillionaire sponsor John E. du Pont as they train for the 1988 games in Seoul - a union that leads to unlikely circumstances.
Middle-aged and divorced, Wilson finds himself lonely, smug, and obsessed with his past.
Evelyn and her oblivious son Ziggy seek out replacements for each other. As Evelyn tries to parent an unassuming teenager at her shelter, Ziggy fumbles through his pursuit of a brilliant young woman at school.
When their father passes away, four grown, world-weary siblings return to their childhood home and are requested -- with an admonition -- to stay there together for a week, along with their free-speaking mother and a collection of spouses, exes and might-have-beens. As the brothers and sisters re-examine their shared history and the status of each tattered relationship among those who know and love them best, they reconnect in hysterically funny and emotionally significant ways.