The Best of Times (1986)
This movie may be called The Best of Times, but for me as a viewer, it was definitely one of the Worst of Times. It's a thoroughly lazy, predictable, deadeningly unfunny sports comedy that never met a cliche it didn't like.
The Best of Times stars Robin Williams, and in the opening narration he tells us the history of the small town in which he lives in, and talks about the high school football game in 1972 where he dropped the potentially winning pass. He has lived under this shadow ever since.
Now, if you were to take a random group of 100 people who've not seen this movie and asked them what they think the plot might be, I'd say about 99 of them would accurately guess it. Yes, Williams wants redemption by reorganizing a rematch of that game, and yes, the movie ends with said game. Also, no prizes for also predicting that the opposing team will be winning handily in the first half, or that there will be something that happens during halftime that will make our hero team play better in the second half and start coming from behind, or that the game will come down to the final five seconds with our hero team needing just ONE MORE TOUCHDOWN, or that the last pass will be thrown to Williams, or that Williams will actually catch the ball this time.
The entire story arc of The Best of Times is a flat line. We are told what will happen at film's end and we sit and wait over an hour to get there. Williams is whiny and pathetic and not at all funny, going on and on and on and on......and on......and on....about that damned dropped pass. Kurt Russell is also at sea as his buddy who was the quarterback during that game and will be the inspirational and motivational quarterback again.
There's just nothing much else to say about The Best of Times. It offers nothing of any entertainment value. You may as well sit and stare at a blank wall for the same length of time, but even then, you'd probably find something more interesting or surprising than you'd find in this vapid sleeping pill.