Like I said in an earlier post, I watched A LOT of movies over my Christmas break. Rain Man (1988) was one of my favorites. This film deserved all the awards it won.

The film is about a selfish foreign car importer, Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) and his discovery, upon his father’s death, that he had a brother–Raymond (Dustin Hoffman)–and that his brother is an autistic savant (he is extraordinarily with numbers and memory, but lacks the ability to do simple tasks and to have normal relationships). Charlie “kidnaps” his brother, intending to get ransom money from the institution he took Raymond from, but things don’t go his way. He ends up traveling across the country all the while growing more and more fond of his brother.

It is a story of transformation for Charlie, and a heartwarming one at that. There is a bit of language, but it is definitely part of Charlie’s character and is necessary for the film. Tom Cruise does an excellent job, but Dustin Hoffman gave the performance of a lifetime. He was truly spectacular.

Rain Man runs 133 minutes and is rated R. This is not a film for children. I give it 9 ramheads out of 10.