IN Moscow on the Hudson (Pearl, 9.30pm) Robin Williams defects to New York and when he sees it has second thoughts.
Who can blame him? Moscow on the Hudson shows the Big Apple at its worst, which is bad indeed. The film is a comedy, and I mention it because you might need reminding. There are some good scenes, notably when Williams makes his escape through Bloomingdale's department store, but most of the laughs are desperate ones. Williams seems uncomfortable with his Russian accent, if it is a Russian accent. It might be Slav, Turkish or Zsa Zsa Gabor with a throat complaint.
Williams is a frustrated circus acrobat who gets his chance to do a bunk when the circus plays in New York.
In a remarkably short time he experiences all the great joys of Manhattan; finding friends, getting his first apartment, falling in love, getting mugged.
The best performances come from the many character actors brought in to do the usual cross-section of eccentric New Yorkers.
There are familiar faces among them, the kind that keep popping up in police dramas that you can never put a name to. Maria Conchita Alonso is the love interest, but far from just being asked by director Paul Mazursky to look pretty, she is given a character to play with.