Having seen Jakob the Liar on the heels of Patch Adams and What Dreams May Come, I see clearly that Robin Williams is not satisfied with his Oscar: What he's really bucking for is the Nobel Peace Prize. So give it to him already, and maybe he'll stop trying to melt our hearts. In this latest film, he's playing a poor soul in a Polish Jewish ghetto run by the Germans, and he's as misty-eyed as all get-out. He suffers his way into sainthood. The film itself is soberer and less dishonest (except in its outrageous final scene) than Life Is Beautiful, but the end point is about the same: Living through the Holocaust is made to seem like a great way to build character.

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