The Best of Times (1986) - Ranking Every Robin Williams Movie
As part of Good Morning Robin, I’m revisiting every Robin Williams movie in theatrical-release order — not just to rank them, but to watch how his career evolves film by film. Some entries become defining classics, while others are strange detours that reveal different sides of his acting. This stop on the journey brings us to The Best of Times (1986), a small-town sports comedy about regret, nostalgia, and the stubborn human desire to rewrite the past.
Review: The Best of Times (1986)
In The Best of Times, Robin Williams plays Jack Dundee, a bank employee who has spent years obsessing over a single moment from his high school football career. During the championship game decades earlier, Jack dropped what would have been the game-winning touchdown pass thrown by his best friend Reno Hightower (Kurt Russell). The mistake became local legend, and Jack never managed to move on.
His solution is simple, if slightly insane: replay the game.
Jack convinces Reno to organize a rematch between their old high school teams, hoping that catching the pass this time will somehow fix everything that has gone wrong in his life since.
What makes the movie interesting is that it’s less about football than it is about nostalgia. Jack isn’t really trying to win a game, he’s trying to prove that his life didn’t peak in high school. The film taps into a very recognizable feeling: the idea that one embarrassing moment can linger in your mind long after everyone else has forgotten about it.
Robin Williams plays Jack with a mix of frantic energy and emotional vulnerability. The character talks quickly, overthinks everything, and pushes the people around him toward a goal that may not actually solve anything. It’s a performance that blends Williams’ natural comedic style with the slightly anxious sincerity that would become a hallmark of many of his later roles.
Kurt Russell provides the perfect counterbalance as Reno, the former star quarterback who seems far more comfortable leaving the past behind. Their dynamic gives the film much of its charm.
Still, The Best of Times struggles to fully commit to its tone. It moves between sports comedy, character drama, and small-town nostalgia without always settling into a clear identity. The result is a movie with an intriguing premise that never quite becomes the classic it might have been.
But the central idea, that people can become trapped by moments from their past, is something the film captures surprisingly well.
Film Ranking
At this point in the series, The Best of Times lands toward the lower half of the early rankings.
The World According to Garp (1982)
Moscow on the Hudson (1984)
Popeye (1980)
The Best of Times (1986)
The Survivors (1983)
While the film has an interesting premise and strong performances, it never quite reaches the emotional or comedic highs of some of Robin Williams’ other early projects.
Robin Williams Performance Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
Even when the movie around him feels uneven, Robin Williams brings a compelling energy to the role of Jack Dundee. His anxious humor and emotional sincerity make the character believable as someone stuck reliving a moment from decades earlier.
One of the recurring discoveries in the Good Morning Robin series is that Robin Williams almost always elevates the material he’s given. The Best of Times may not be one of the most famous films in his career, but his performance remains engaging throughout.
In the full Good Morning Robin video series, I place this film alongside the rest of Robin Williams’ career — comparing performances, tracking themes, and seeing how each project fits into the larger story of his filmography.
Next on the journey: Robin Williams finally lands one of the roles that would define his career.
