Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy

For those fans of the original "Mork & Mindy" show in the 70's, this was a believable look into the early career of Robin Williams, now widely regarded as a comic genius and respected actor. The fact that it was "unauthorized" is probably meant to convey that no punches were pulled, and the dirty laundry gets aired. This was the case here as well. The producers took pains to recreate the characters from the show both physically with regard to personality. They go out of their way to put forth the fact that Williams almost became typecast for his Mork role, and the tedium and frustration that the part produced for him. After all, his fans knew he was something special when they saw him for 5 minutes on "Happy Days". His manic, rapid fire improvisational brilliance continues to amaze to this day, and yet, through this TV movie, we see how close he may have come to losing it all in the early 80's. My only qualm is that I have been unable to locate the credit for the actor who played John Belushi.

I was a fan of 'Mork and Mindy' and I forgot that the show went through all these problems. I just remembered what was good.

Chris Diamantopoulos imitated Robin Williams' comic style perfectly; I could easily imagine what it was like to see Williams himself doing all those crazy things. Whoever wrote Williams' funny lines did an excellent job, whether this included ad libbing or not. Still, at least early on I felt like all I could do was imagine it was Williams. I don't think anyone could truly master his style, though Diamantopoulos made a valiant effort. In one of the final scenes, Diamantopoulos did a very good job imitating Williams' co-workers.

When Williams was not funny, Diamantopoulos did not always show talent. But in a couple of scenes associated with an unusual episode of the show which was Williams' idea (not the network's), Diamantopoulos really shined as a dramatic performer, and really made me believe he was Williams. He also did well in a couple of instances where Williams criticized Mork's portrayal.

Other than Diamantopoulos, unfortunately, and except for the actors playing John Belushi (Tyler Labine was fantastic) and Raquel Welch, I didn't see any real acting ability among those playing celebrities. Though the actors playing Laverne (Stacy Fair) and The Fonz (David Josefberg) portrayed those characters better than they did the real-life actors. Daniel Roebuck especially needs to be singled out, because unless he was intended to be a parody of the genius director/producer Garry Marshall, he did not achieve what he was attempting. Marshall was not a moron, though Roebuck did the moron role very well on 'Matlock'. Later in the movie, though, Roebuck did come across nicely. And I loved the stunned looks on the faces of Marshall and Harvey after Williams auditioned for them.

Of those actors not playing celebrities, Michelle Harrison did the best job, as Williams' wife Val. David Richmond-Peck did a capable job as Harvey.

I enjoyed the scenes related to the show itself the most, though I couldn't help but think the show's live audience was doing a fine job of acting. Except for Diamantopoulos, I didn't think anyone was that funny. I was especially disappointed in the portrayal of Jonathan Winters.

Of course, the usual constant criticism by the network just had to be included, as it often is in movies like this. That was fun, though, especially when the censors were kept hopping by Williams' antics.

The scenes related to Williams' personal life were well done but not that pleasant, though not as bad as I expected. The scene where Williams met Belushi while doing his stand-up routine, and the one where they got to know each other afterward, were quite enjoyable.

Overall, I was fairly happy with this movie.

Much like Robin Williams being the main headliner for Mork and Mindy, Chris Diamantopoulos is amazing as a young / out of control Robin Williams in this decent made for television movie. Although this is a movie dealing with cocaine, NBC manages to only show the drug for about 10 seconds in this 90 minute movie. Daniel Roebuck is OK as Gary Marshall. Since his portrayal of Jay Leno in HBO's Late Shift, it's hard to see him in any other role. Although a strong character actor like Chris Diamantopoulos, he manages to give a good enough performance. Even though the Gary Marshall story is woven into the Robin Williams story, it is Robin's story that keeps the audience watching. Some interesting moments throughout the movie, you are unable to turn the television off until the end credits.

I don't now know where this kid came from who played Robin Williams but he was channeling. It was astounding at times. The writing was as good as it could get for someone trying to capture Robin's crazy improv in a script. And I gotta tell you, it made me cry. I really felt empathy with Robin and Valerie. When Robin walked away from his crippling vice and into the best years of his marriage and fatherhood and a mostly sparkling movie career, I was moved to tears.

Sometimes, these insider TV movies can be terribly cheesy. This one benefited greatly by the lead performance and Daniel Roebuck's loving turn as Garry Marshall. These people are heroes of mine and I came out of this movie with even more admiration for them than ever before.

Diamontopolous and Roebuck had the voices and mannerisms of their characters dead on. It was either great casting or great performances.

The rest of the show was pretty average for behind-the-scenes-of-a-TV-show kind of stuff. But it wasn't camped up like a couple of them have been. Ironically, they made references to Gilligans' Island within the show, but this movie felt a lot like that behind the scenes movie.

Surprisingly, it was interesting most of the time. There was a decent mixture of things commonly recognized and a few things not known so readily.