Jakob the Liar

(Columbia Tristar)

Robin Williams is downright subdued in Peter Kassovitz's remake of Frank Beyer's devastating East German 1977 Academy Award nominee Jacob the Liar. As the title character, an unassuming Polish ghetto schlemiel who by chance hears of a Soviet advance over a Nazi radio and lets the word get out to raise hopes, Williams weakly hams it up on only two occasions; the first-rate cast (Liev Schreiber, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Bob Balaban) work hard to play it straight, but Liar just doesn't ring true.