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THE NIGHT LISTENER Send This Review to a Friend
Moody and bleak, “The Night Listener” is based on the novel by Armistead Maupin, who wrote the screenplay together with Terry Anderson and director Patrick Stettner. The rest falls mainly on the shoulders of the leads, Robin Williams and Toni Collette, both of whom can generally be relied upon for convincing performances.
The story is a strange one, with Williams cast as Gabriel Noone, a late-night radio host noted for spinning spellbinding stories drawn from his own life, or what he purports to be his own life. Noone is depressed as a result of a breakup with his gay lover Jess (Bobby Cannavale). Pete (Rory Culkin), a teenager and one of Noone’s listeners, has his own sad story that intrigues the broadcaster, a story involving abuse and impending doom. Noone begins to think of himself as a kind of surrogate father and goes off on a passionate quest to find him.
Collette is Donna, Pete’s adoptive mother (or is she?), whom Noone has to pursue in order to see Pete, but she is doing everything possible to stand in the way. Donna is odd, to say the least, and Noone’s behavior is becoming increasingly bizarre as he gets more and more desperate in his search in the face of the weird situations that develop. Others in the cast include Sandra Oh, Joe Morton, Lisa Emery and John Cullum.
“The Night Listener,” although shrouded in mystery, suffers from an enveloping loss of credibility. Weariness rather than fascination sets in, and despite the intensity of the performances, the tale is hard to take. Diretor Stettner did much better with his earlier debut film, “The Business of Strangers.” A Miramax Films release.
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