Saturday 5 May 2018

Ranking Robin Williams's Fellow Onscreen Female Love Interest Actresses/Characters

During the course of his TV and movie career, Robin Williams got to share screen time with several fellow actresses in a variety of projects. Here is my personal ranking for each one of them as indicated by the up and down & okay arrows

In descending order:


Vicki - Kelly Lynch (Old Dogs) 🔻

The least effective out of all of the female onscreen love interest characters/performers opposite Robin Williams, it bemused me as to why she, aka John Travolta's real-life wife, and Robin were paired together onscreen. Absolutely zero chemistry, mismatched pairing & whereby her performance was of little to no consequence, in what is for me, the worst comedy film Robin Williams has ever starred in & least favourite romantic pairing of himself & a leading/support female lead. 


Delila - Mira Sorvino (The Final Cut) 🔻

Poor performance from her, well pretty much everyone in this disappointing and terrible thriller, with a love scene with Robin that didn't work at all for me & was so poorly executed


Elly Dundee - Holly Palance (The Best of Times) 🔻

This movie is one of three, which has the most awkward sex scenes involving Robin & that it was a struggle for me to sit through, with the other being in The Final Cut and Moscow In The Hudson. Holly played Jack's wife, but she alongside Jack and several others came across as being dislikable and characters I could care less for. Also, Elly's characterisation was next to zilch in this film. 


Fran Drescher (Joy from Cadillac Man and Delores from Jack) ðŸ”»

I enjoy Fran on The Nanny sitcom as Fran Fine opposite Charles Shaunagsey's Maxwell, but I have never warmed up to her movie roles. She's had 2 needless roles as a love interest opposite Robin in Cadillac Man and Jack, & on each occasion, neither of them really convinced me. That, and they are practically the characters as Fran Fine and so they are clones.


  


Carin - Monica Potter (Patch Adams) 🔻

This character was originally a man in real-life, but the writer changed it up to a female and she falls for Patch, and the unexpected then happens. Potter's performance was okay, but she didn't make a great impression, plus her character had little significance in the movie, nor did she have a bearing on it. She mainly existed to get killed off. I honestly didn't care for her. 


  


Phillipa - Twiggy (Club Paradise) 🔻

I thought Phillipa was okay as a character but I couldn't get why she'd fall for Jack, and I don't get what Robin Williams's Jack sees in her




Doreen - Annie McEnroe (The Survivors)

This is one character who could have played a pivotal role in the movie, as Donald Quinelle's wife; instead she is an entity and is eventually shoved to the side. Not that it affected my enjoyment of the film




Helen - Mary Beth Hurt (The World According To Garp)

I felt that as watchable as The World According To Garp is, it has a number of problems that dog the movie, which included the sketchy portrayals of the female characters. One of those being Helen, T.S Garp's eventual wife-to-be, who later on cheats on her husband with a younger student. Hurt's turn was still commendable, however.


  


Lydia - Amanda Plummer (The Fisher King)

I just didn't sense that chemistry coming through between Amanda and Robin, which is a pity because The Fisher King is a good movie, as flawed as it is. But Lydia wasn't much of a character that I could put my finger on exactly, despite Amanda's admirable efforts.  




Olive - Glenne Headly (Seize The Day)

Olive was Tommy Wilheim's girlfriend who manages to stand by him until the end of the movie that is. Glenne was okay but she didn't get much of a look- in in Seize The Day, which was all about Robin's Tommy. 




Sarah Whittle - Bonnie Hunt (Jumanji)

She fared all right, although I didn't truly sense the Alan and Sarah ship. Yet Bonnie showed how adept she was in a movie such as this 


    

Sara - Marcia Gay Harden (Flubber)

(See Sarah Whittle) 


Miss Marquez - Jennifer Lopez (Jack)

Her role was a little odd, although I could have done without the plot-line of Jack having a crush on her. It was too weird for me to contemplate and take in. Lopez's performance was all right, yet minimal given how small it was. 


     

Olive Oyl - Shelley Duvall (Popeye)

She made for a perfect Olive with Robin as Popeye and performance-wise, it was very good, but again, I didn't care for Olive, which isn't helped by the cumbersome direction by Robert Altman


  


Favourite/Top 4 

Elenor - Julie Kavner (Awakenings) 🔺

Performance-wise overall, she delivered the best and alongside Robin, she matched him in every respect in this medical biopic, based on a true story. Awakenings was a movie where the performances were sublime across the board. Kavner, who also voices Marge on The Simpsons, later reunited with Williams for Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry in 1997.


   


Gwen Tyler - Robin Wright (Toys) 🔺 

Kind of perky with that Southern charm, Robin Wright was great and her partnership with Williams really surprised me. Sweet, very grounded and somewhat subtle as Gwen in contrast to Leslie's quirkiness. The Barry Levinson directed fantasy epic, Toys wasn't well received by critics and I was worried the Leslie and Gwen relationship, with Robin Wright as his love interest wouldn't work, at all. Yet, it did for me and male Robin and female Robins's unlikely pairing in this fantasy comedy was pretty. 


 


Mindy McConnell - Pam Dawber (Mork & Mindy) 🔺

I liked Mork and Mindy as friends in the earlier seasons but come seasons 3 and 4, when they got together, the relationship wasn't so good and the arrival of Mirth ruined the show. But Pam as Mindy was great; she brought that groundedness and normality to Robin's Mork's madness and her connection with Robin Williams worked just like magic.


     


Tinkerbell - Julia Roberts (Hook) 🔺

I feel like I am one of those people having to defend her turn in this movie. I virtually and absolutely had no qualms with Julia Roberts's performance as Tinkerbell. & if there was one, it would be with the writers who didn't do that character or Roberts justice by fleshing her out properly. Julia Roberts's portrayal of Tink was as I'd expected out of her. & despite sharing one major scene, that one being with Robin, even in the special effects generated scenes in Hook (before the advent of CGI), her efforts here didn't bother me. Thanks to leading lady Roberts's delivery, charisma and star appeal that she oozes. Julia and Robin's scenes together were very enjoyable & I liked them a great deal. 


     

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...