Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (2018)

Smith’s Verdict: ****

Reviewed by Tanner Smith

I don’t know the most famous comedians personally, but lately, I get the feeling they use their comedy as defense mechanisms. They can make me laugh, but I’m always going to wonder what they’re going through off-stage or off-screen. After watching the Netflix documentary “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond,” I can’t watch a wacky Jim Carrey performance the same way again. And now comes the HBO documentary about the life and times of Robin Williams, called “Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind.” Ever since Williams allegedly committed suicide in 2014, it made me wonder why a funnyman who made so people (including me) laugh and feel good about themselves would feel the need to do that. Learning more about him through online articles which included interviews from those closest to him, it disturbingly made sense. “Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind” effectively backs up the truly sad notion that Robin Williams, for as brilliant as he was, was a sad man in constant pain.

Through in-depth interviews with Williams’ family & friends (including Billy Crystal, who was one of his closest friends), never-before-seen outtakes from his appearances on TV and movies (including a hilarious blooper from his appearance on “Sesame Street,” with Elmo), and even a retrospective interview from Williams himself (recorded 2013-2014) that provides an eerily effective voiceover narration in various portions of the film, director Marina Zenovich (who also directed the documentary “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired”) does a brilliant job in presenting us with the love & manic energy that came with Williams’ comedic antics while also being able to let us know just what was going on deep inside him. Balancing knowledge of his life in performance and his personal life painted a clear portrait of Robin Williams that is unforgettable and very powerful.

I realize the film that probably sums up the life and career of Robin Williams the most is the 1987 war-comedy “Good Morning, Vietnam.” That was a film about an entertainer who kept the troops in the Vietnam War laughing in times when entertainment didn’t seem possible or even necessary. The more I watch that film, the more I realize we know very little about the character…and then I wonder who he really is and what he’s going through outside his field job. Someone should create a film-theory subject based on the possibility that this character represents the real Robin Williams and the film represents both what we know and what we don’t know about him.

Overall, “Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind” is the four-years-late eulogy for Robin Williams that I needed. It hurt me deeply when I first heard the news about his passing, because I grew up with many of his performances (particularly in “Aladdin” and “Mrs. Doubtfire”) and was able to appreciate his more adult humor in his standup, in his R-rated movies (including “Good Morning, Vietnam,” which I already mentioned), and his more mature film roles (“Good Will Hunting,” “One Hour Photo,” among others). It was even sadder to learn more about his personal life, which included not only depression but also broken marriages and addiction, and what might have led him to do what he did. But this documentary reminded me why he was famous, why he was impactful to audiences, and more importantly, why he was so damn funny.