Review: The Night Listener

Newly (and unhappily) single radio show host Robin Williams who becomes obsessed with the 14 year-old author (Rory Culkin) of a truly unsettling (unpublished) account of sexual abuse by his parents, who sold him to paedophiles, and subsequent suffering of both syphilis and AIDS. The lonely and depressed Williams (who is also gay, not that it should matter, but I’m not 100% sure the filmmakers agree with me on that) begins a telephone relationship with the boy, who lives in a remote part of Wisconsin, with his fiercely protective blind foster mother (Toni Collette) in fear that his birth mother, still at large, might find them. But some of Williams’ friends, including former lover Bobby Cannavale feel something is amiss with Culkin and Collette- like, why do their voices sound somewhat familiar? Fearing he has been made the butt of a seriously sick and unfunny joke, but not wanting to believe it, Williams travels to Wisconsin to find the boy and his mother. Sandra Oh and Joe Morton play colleagues, the latter provides Williams with Culkin’s manuscript.

Sometimes intriguing, well-acted (notably by Collette), but relentlessly dour, and ultimately predictable 2006 Patrick Stettner (“The Business of Strangers”, another well-acted film that didn’t quite come off) film. It isn’t in the class of “The Sixth Sense” (no great film itself), but has its moments of atmosphere and creepiness (it is also said to be based on a true story- take that as you will). Scripted by the director, along with Terry Anderson and the original novelist, Armistead Maupin, this is one of the few times when a little more length might’ve greatly improved the final product. There’s just not enough to the central mystery, and although there’s probably too much extraneous material, it doesn’t hide the fairly obvious solution because those elements never feel organic or necessary anyway. It’s also thematically unpleasant and morally questionable. I didn’t feel right by the end of this one.

Rating: C+