Full Review

A bearded, graying Robin Williams has one of his more serious roles in this adaptation of "Tales of the City" author Armistead Maupin's novel, allegedly "inspired by true events," and he is excellent.

Otherwise, "The Night Listener" (Miramax) proves a downer, albeit a fairly suspenseful one, about a gay radio host, Gabriel Noone (Williams), who is at a creative standstill and despondent over the recent breakup with his HIV-positive domestic partner Jess (Bobby Cannavale).

To get Gabriel out of his depression, his publisher friend Ashe (Joe Morton) gives him a manuscript entitled "Diary of Transcendent Hope and Therapy" written by a boy with AIDS named Pete Logand (Rory Culkin) who had been sexually abused by his parents as a child, and happens to be a devoted fan of Gabriel.

The latter develops a paternal phone friendship with 14-year-old Pete but then begins to doubt the boy's existence, after Jess hears Pete and his foster mother Donna (the chameleonlike Toni Collette) on the phone, and points out that they sound awfully similar. Could they be one and the same person? After all, even Ashe had never actually met the boy.

Gabriel refuses to believe that Pete's story is all one big lie, and his life suddenly has purpose, as he sets off for Wisconsin to prove the boy's existence.

With only the return address on an envelope to guide him, Gabriel begins to despair of ever finding them, but ultimately he locates Donna, who turns out to be blind with a seeing-eye dog. They develop an uneasy alliance, but she seems determined to prevent him from seeing Pete who, she says, lies gravely ill in the hospital.

Gabriel is undeterred, and attempts to find the boy, even if it means breaking into the local hospital and using several other unconventional methods.

Director Patrick Stettner's film is part psychological drama, part mystery in the M. Night Shyamalan manner. He co-wrote the truth-versus-fiction script with Maupin and Terry Anderson (the real-life model for Jess).

Though the performances are solid (including Sandra Oh as Gabriel's bookkeeper), and there are some chills, the result is, on the whole, unconvincing, whatever its real-life foundation.

The film contains profanity, rough and crude language, sexual elements including brief footage of an orgy with partial nudity, innuendo and some violence. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.