Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction

2009 "Stand Up"
7.7| 1h30m| R| en| More Info
Released: 06 December 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.

... View More
Stream Online

The movie is currently not available onine

Director

Producted By

CBS Films

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime. Watch Now

Trailers & Images

Reviews

KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?
WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.
Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
leonblackwood Review: This movie wasn't as funny as the Live on Broadway stand-up, but it's still funny. He uses the same concept as the Live on Broadway stand-up, but the jokes are more up to date, especially the ending which cracked me up. The older Robin Williams gets is the more toned down his act is but you can't beat his his unique writing and his amazing stage performance. Like his previous stand-up acts, he touches on political and sexual matters and he even talks about being an alcoholic and his time in rehab. Anyway, if you like me, and you've grown up watching Robin Williams movies, then his stand-up is definitely worth a watch. Enjoyable!Round-Up: The bonus material on the DVD is excellent because you get to see Robin Williams taking his act to different states and you see some of his older work which was excellent. Due to his sad passing, it's really sad to know that he won't be coming out with some new material because there really isn't anyone else like him. I recommend this movie to people who are into there stand-up comedies which cover everything from politics to sex. 6/10
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.
bob the moo I recently managed to catch Robin Williams' big return to HBO and I was looking forward to some typical manic humour from him, which is pretty much what he delivers. The problem is that he still needs good material to deliver in this way and there are substantial chunks of this special when the material is not as strong as he should be doing. He dabbles into political comedy but he does so in a manner that makes him come over like he is trying to do someone else's act – it just doesn't sit well with the rest of the stuff he is doing. Put with this the fact that a lot of the material he is doing is not topical – I know I saw this several months after it aired in the US but even in December 2009 some of this stuff was done and done. It is still pretty funny but it is not as hilarious as he is trying to make it, nor as funny as the audience reaction captured suggests.Likewise some of his stuff is very crude and some of the laughs seem to be coming from the stuff he is saying being shocking. Of course this is nothing need in comedy and there is always a place for those who say the unsayable but do so in a very clever and well-delivered fashion – but this is not happening here. Williams does have some great observations with this stuff but mostly he is playing it a bit too obvious and childish for my tastes. Fortunately neither the political stuff nor the crude stuff makes up the majority of the show. There are other things in here and some of them are relevant to him and personal to him; his bits on alcoholism and drugs I found very funny but also well informed and it is just a shame he could not have done more from that direction rather than miming out his bodily functions with as much regularity as he did (pun unintentional).There is one thing above all else that makes this (admittedly too long) special work though, even as it dips at times and that is the man himself. Williams manic stuff has always worked well for me and since Mork has been his trademark and there is no sign that he has lost his touch there because his delivery and work is impressive. He nails the better material with this approach and he also carries the weaker stuff, taking the audience with him even when the joke he is doing is not that funny. The only slight wobble he has in that regard is when he does quite a lot of racial/national stereotypes and accents in one tight segment – you can feel the audience not really being sure if it is something they should be laughing at, but by force of his personality alone Williams takes them with him right through that mire.Is "Weapons" a great comedy show? Well to be honest no, too much of the material feels a little "base" in its content but Williams just about holds it together by sheer will and presence. He carries the audience and the viewer through the weaker material, moving quickly and frantically to distract us and provides plenty of good laughs on the stronger material to make us focus on that. Not quite great but he is undoubtedly good at what he does.
edwagreen Robin Williams is a talented comedian. He has a supporting Oscar under his belt plus several Oscar nominations for best actor. We all know that he can be quite funny.All these nice things being said, I was disgusted watching this television special due to all the vulgarities that come out of the mouth of Williams. He couldn't go three words without the use of the f-word. While I realize that this is HBO, have a little dignity please.In addition, Williams could get anyone dizzy by his constant movement up and down the stage.He touches on several topics including Sarah Palin. The use of constant profanity ruins the material.