The Bottom Line: Williams Shifts Gears Again with ‘R.V.’

Robin Williams, family man, is back.

Hot on the heels of Robots comes R.V., Williams‘ first PG-rated live-action offering since 1999’s Bicentennial Man ($58.2 million) blew a fuse. And if his road trip does Are We There Yet?-like business, Williams could finally put the brakes on the box office slump he’s endured since 2002.

Hey, Williams deserved to toy with his good-guy persona after peddling his sickly sweet shtick in Bicentennial Man, Jakob the Liar, Patch Adams and What Dreams May Come. And it was fun to see him get devious in 2002’s Death to Smoochy, Insomnia and One Hour Photo.

“This is just an idea of finding characters that I haven’t been offered before,” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2002. “To play the full range of human behavior, rather than being locked off and being ‘’the kind and wonderful man.’”

Still, it was shocking that Williams would beat his family-friendly image to death by being bad to the bone in three consecutive films. You would think Williams—who’s delighted in playing such clean-cut characters as Mrs. Doubtfire, Peter Pan and Popeye—would have been more cautious in unleashing his inner demons. It’s certainly cost him at the box office, with several of his recent films barely surpassing $1 million.

From an artistic standpoint, Williams’ experiment was a success. By abandoning his maniacal ways, Williams proved quietly chilling as a serial killer in Insomnia ($67.3 million) and a stalker in One Hour Photo ($31.5 million). But when he spun way out of control, as he did in Death to Smoochy ($8.3 million), audiences steered clear.

Williams kept a straight face for 2004’s The Final Cut, a sci-fi thriller that put a halt to his evil doings. But his reluctant heroics were for naught as The Final Cut bombed ($551,281).

A hint that Williams was leaning toward a full-scale comeback came in 2005. He returned to his old emotionally manipulative ways as a mentally challenged janitor in House of D ($388,532), but few cared. Robots allowed Williams to finally have fun, and he gave another frenetic vocal performance à la Aladdin’s Genie.

Then there’s The Big White. At a cost of $18 million, the Coen-esque crime caper represents an embarrassment—it received a negligible release in December and will hit DVD stores in June. Noel (2004) suffered a similar fate.

So it was inevitable that Williams would hit the road with R.V.. He needs a hit and he needs one now.

And he’s wasting no time reestablishing himself with family audiences.

Late this year, he lends his voice to Happy Feet (Nov. 17) and takes a supporting role in Ben Stiller’s Night at the Museum (Dec. 22). He runs for president in Man of the Year, dabbles in some magic in August Rush and issues Mandy Moore a License to Wed. There’s also talk of Williams getting back into a dress for Mrs. Doubtfire 2. Now that’s a true sign of desperation.

The Bottom Line
Williams‘ dark period ends Aug. 4 with The Night Listener, in which he befriends a boy who may not be who he says he is. Williams deserves applause for taking on edgier roles these past four years. Still, had he sprinkled a few Birdcages with the Insomnias, then he would still be able to make more One Hour Photos without any fear. Unfortunately, though, Williams‘ bid to reverse his box office fortunes now means he’s giving us nothing but a steady stream of potential—but likely uninteresting–crowd-pleasers. Just spare us Patch Adams 2, please.