Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction

Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction

2009 "Stand Up"
Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction
Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction

Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction

7.7 | 1h30m | R | en | Comedy

HBO presents one of the most gifted and revered performers of our time, Academy-Award winning Robin Williams, starring in his fifth exclusive HBO special, taped before a live audience at Washington's Constitution Hall.

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7.7 | 1h30m | R | en | Comedy | More Info
Released: December. 06,2009 | Released Producted By: CBS Films , Country: Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

HBO presents one of the most gifted and revered performers of our time, Academy-Award winning Robin Williams, starring in his fifth exclusive HBO special, taped before a live audience at Washington's Constitution Hall.

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Cast

Robin Williams

Director

Marty Callner

Producted By

CBS Films ,

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Reviews

ironhorse_iv The death of Robin Williams, a beloved comedic and dramatic actor in 2014 was very hard hitting for most of his fans. People were prompted with emotion, when it was found out, that he killed himself. Looking back at it, Robin Williams: Weapon of Self-Destruction show early signs where Robin William was heading. After all, the title 'Weapon of Self-Destruction,' doesn't ring happiest. It's really hard to tell, if a comedian was indeed joking or calling for a cry for help. At the time, the jokes in here, were pretty dark, but nobody could had guess that Robin Williams would indeed act upon the things that he was preaching against. What drives people to suicide is a mystery, only the victim could answer. We, the audience could only guess what, they were thinking. You can tell that the comedian was trying to reignite his career in 2009, after several of his main lead movies in the 2000's became bombs at the box office. Becoming too much of a gamble, producers were nearly unwilling to pay the enough of money to keep Robin William as a leading man. Since then, Williams took smaller acting in smaller films to pay his bills. This may have led to money troubles. It didn't help that 2009 was a rough year for Williams. His second marriage just ended, due to citing irreconcilable differences and he had really bad heart problems. These factors force Williams to return back to his roots, and try out 'Stand up", once more. Robin Williams did a special for HBO about his first solo TV concert since 2002 filmed at Washington D.C.'s DAR Constitution Hall on his sold-out "Weapons of Self Destruction" national tour. It was here that Robin covers a range of topics such as global warning, health care in America, politics, sex and others. He even put spotlight in more personal topics such as his recent open heart surgery, his past drug and alcohol abuse, and his struggle with severe depression. All the jokes were nearly all hits than misses to the funny bone to me. Still, the special was missing something. The jokes really have no pattern to them. Robin Williams really jumps around way too much here. It didn't flow right. I know that William use Free association in the past, but it was bit distracting here. Even for 2009, some of the humor was really dated as if he told them, years before. Why was he talking about the changing of the Pope in 2009? It felt like we jump back into a time machine to 2005, where that joke would had made more sense. Even the Bill Clinton humor, while mostly timeless, felt a bit odd to hear. It felt like some joke that he forgot to talk about in the 1990s. At less, he got some of his future predictions right. South America pope. Who knew, right! Some critics might hate the special due to the fact, that Williams said that this was his last chance to make jokes at the expense of the Bush administration, but by the time the show was staged, only a few minutes covered that subject. It felt a bit false advertisement. I love the fact that most of his humor in this, was for the intellectual audience. It takes a higher level of wit to make them laugh. Still, there were some stupid humor here, but it wasn't too much in bad taste or felt offending. Some critics might not like the special due to the harsh language that Robin Williams use. Anybody, who knows Robin William's previous stand up works; knows that it isn't PG. Sadly, most people know him for his work in children movies, so it's hard for certain people to give him free range in comedy. This special is definitely not appropriate for kids as it's a bit raw and raunchy. His delivery is hectic, frenetic, and hyper. You can tell with how many times, he go to the water bottles that was place for him, which occasionally become props in his act. Is it distracting? Not really, in my opinion, he still performance with the greatest of ease. I love the way, he able to use his voice to make his act felt more illuminating. The way, he created voice impressions of people, including Walter Cronkite, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Stewart, Popeye and others here were amazing. In this special, you really see, why Robin Williams is not only a great voice actor, but a great slapstick body actor. He work out a story through body motions, like a loud-mouth mime on steroids. Still, it was a bit odd to see, William stimulate sex scenes or have a talking penis. It was also pretty nice to see his ability to improv as the opening to the special, didn't really go his way, due to certain late guests. Overall: He's still one of the best in the industry, and I'll be adding this to my collection for sure. It's a must-watch for any Robin Williams fan. I do recommended it.
Steve Pulaski As of yesterday, August 11, 2014, Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction stands as the final televised comedy special by the man we'll ever see, and to leave a career off on this particular show isn't at all a bad thing. At fifty-eight years old at the time of filming this, Williams seems as energetic and zealous as ever, prancing around the stage for eighty-nine minutes, with no breaks or intermissions, showing himself as a nonstop comedic force of nature. In such a short time, Williams show himself doing great impressions, questioning life, and doing something few film roles allowed him to do - be so brazenly crude and bawdy.Despite his crudeness, Williams entices with a certain sense of wit and wordplay to his mannerisms and lectures. Williams, for one, transitions from topic-to-topic, regardless of how outlandish the previous topic was, smoothly and fearlessly, never missing a beat or interrupting himself, resulting in a lost sense of continuity. In five minutes, Williams amusingly and thoughtfully discusses wildfires, marijuana, tornadoes, and hurricanes, making easy transitions into each topic. He continues on by frequently dropping hilarious jokes, such as the commonality between a tornado and a divorce in the south is that someone inevitably loses a trailer and that the reasons Germany doesn't have any comedians or funny personalities is because they tried to kill them all decades back.Arguably the most entertaining is when Williams reminds us how asinine our recent history has been, saying that "it's like we've been on the drug 'f*** it all' for the past eight years," as he recounts political events from 2000 to 2008. Through and through, Williams is entertaining as hell, spirited, clearly working off of ample amounts of energy, not fumes of it, and offering advice and keen observations at every turn. He even gives us one of the most memorable statements on marriage I've ever heard which is, "there are penalties for early withdrawal and depositing into another account." Directed by: Marty Callner.
Paul Magne Haakonsen "Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction" is a hoot. Mr. Williams delivers rock-solid jokes with great punchlines and with lots of funny contents.If you have seen the 2002 show "Live On Broadway" and enjoyed that, then you most definitely want to check out this 2009 show as well. Only one small problem about this 2009 show is that some of the jokes from 2002 make a re-appearance, which was a tad tame, if you have already seen the 2002 show, but other than that, Robin Williams delivers a great show and laughs.It should be said that Robin Williams is quite fond of the F-word in his stand-up shows, so take a notice of warning to that prior to sitting down to watch "Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction", because if you are offended by that word, this might not really be something for you.I was thoroughly entertained by Williams in this show, as I was in the 2002 show. He is a great comedian and doesn't sugarcoat anything, he talks straight from the heart (and mind) and doesn't put on any velvet gloves. I like his direct approach and the way that he delivers one solid joke after another, but at the same time manages to keep the show fresh and up-to-date with things that are up in the media and things that needs to be made fun of."Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction" is a great addition to any fan of either Robin Williams or the stand-up comedy genre in general.
Jackson Booth-Millard I had seen some clips of Robin Williams doing live stand-up comedy, and then I saw a whole act on We Are Most Amused, and I was very keen to see a whole show. So then I noticed this on the TV, and I was very hopeful that I would find his material funny, knowing also that he is a very speedy improviser. As it turned out, it was very funny, I might have lost track a few times with his speed of delivery, but for the jokes I did manage to understand, it was a most worthwhile show. It was also interesting to learn a few things about and from him, e.g. that he was an alcoholic (I knew he took drugs), making him ma very appealing guy as well. Robin Williams was number 44 on 100 Greatest Stand-Ups. Very good!