Bicentennial Man

Bicentennial Man

Bicentennial Man was stung at the 1999 box office, due no doubt in part to poor timing during a backlash against Robin Williams and his treacly performances in two other, then-recent releases, Jakob the Liar and Patch Adams. But this near-approximation of a science fiction epic, based on works by Isaac Asimov and directed, with uncharacteristic seriousness of purpose, by Chris Columbus (Mrs. Doubtfire), is much better than one would have known from the knee-jerk negativity and box-office indifference. Williams plays Andrew, a robot programmed for domestic chores and sold to an upper-middle-class family, the Martins, in the year 2005. The family patriarch (Sam Neill) recognizes and encourages Andrew's uncommon characteristics, particularly his artistic streak, sensitivity to beauty, humor, and independence of spirit. In so doing, he sets Williams's tin man on a two-century journey to become more human than most human beings. As adapted by screenwriter Nicholas Kazan, the movie's scale is novelistic, though Columbus isn't the man to embrace with Spielbergian confidence its sweeping possibilities. Instead, the Home Alone director shakes off his familiar tendencies to pander and matures, finally, as a captivating storyteller. But what really makes this film matter is its undercurrent of deep yearning, the passion of Andrew as a convert to the human race and his willingness to sacrifice all to give and take love. Williams rises to an atypical challenge here as a futuristic Everyman, relying, perhaps for the first time, on his considerable iconic value to make the point that becoming human means becoming more like Robin Williams. Nothing wrong with that. --Tom Keogh

Production: Buena Vista Pictures
  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 7 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.8
Metacritic:
42
Rotten Tomatoes:
36%
PG
Year:
1999
132
Website
8,462 Views
One robot's 200 year journey to become an ordinary man.

[Andrew is checking out the church Portia is restoring ahead of her wedding - and she's not too pleased to see him]

Andrew Martin:
Do you have any idea what it's like to be in love with someone... who's about to marry someone else? Someone totally magnificent, someone who walks into a room and lights it up like the sun? Someone who you know is lying to herself?

Portia Charney:
Lying?

Martin:
Convincingly, yeah. Very, very much so.

Charney:
About what?

Martin:
That you don't love me, when I know at least in some way you do.

Charney:
And how do you know that?

Martin:
Portia, I have done everything inside and out.

Charney:
But that stuff doesn't matter to me.

Martin:
Well, something matters, 'cause I'd have to believe if nothing mattered, you'd love me... and not some man whose chin could sink the Titanic. [Portia laughs] What? See? It's true, isn't it? I'm sorry. Does he light you up like this? Does he make you laugh?

Charney:
[smiles and grins] Nobody makes me laugh like this.

Martin:
Good. Then admit it. Admit that you love me. [goes after Portia as she tries to walk away] Give me one kiss.

Charney:
Oh, God.

Martin:
That's all. One quick kiss. just one kiss... could not jeopardize a glorious marriage. Besides, it would also explain to me why your pulse jumped from 66 to 102 beats per minute. Your respiration rate has doubled. You're putting out clouds of pheromones.

Charney:
[embarrassed at being scanned] It's not fair to read me like that.

Martin:
I know. Love isn't fair. I'm reading your heart. I'm asking you to follow it-- begging you. Begging is supposed to be humiliating. I don't care. I love you, Portia. I loved you the very first moment I saw you. [Andrew and Portia kiss deeply]

Charney:
I thought you said a quick kiss.

Martin:
I lied! [they kiss deeply and Andrew lifts her up]


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