Film Review: Reviewed By Andrew Collins; 5 out of 5

While everyone remembers this film about an autistic man as Dustin Hoffman's Oscar-winning triumph, it is equally Tom Cruise's. As a fast-talking wheeler-dealer living out the 1980s dream, he learns that not only is he out of his father's will (save for a 1949 Buick), he also has an institutionalised elder brother (Hoffman). This is a classic road movie, with the two siblings crossing country to California in the Buick. Hoffman's savant - a mass of baseball and airline disaster statistics, prone to hysterics if his routine is broken - is one of modern cinema's great triumphs: believable, unsentimental, often hilarious. But without Cruise, whose emotional journey runs from confused and impatient to understanding, protective and eventually loving, there is no film. Director Barry Levinson handles the whole thing beautifully, and also won an Oscar, and the film took the best picture award.

Plot Summary

Brash yuppie car dealer Charlie discovers his deceased father has left the family fortune to Raymond, the autistic elder brother he never knew he had. In a bid to get his hands on the money, he abducts Raymond from the institution - but the ensuing cross-country journey proves to be a profound learning experience. Oscar-winning drama, starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, with Valeria Golino, Gerald R Molen and Jack Murdock. Including FYI Daily.