"Radio" begins with the title character, a mentally retarded South Carolina man played by Cuba Gooding Jr., having the opportunity
to be hit by a train. The train misses him. The film goes downhill from there. I do not believe the individuals responsible for "Radio" actually attempted to make a good movie. I suppose one of them might have said, "Should we try to make a different or interesting or thoughtful or compelling movie?," but everyone shouted him down, saying, "No, let's just make a really generic one." Then they all got in their Corollas, drove to their favorite Italian restaurant Olive Garden, went shopping at KMart, then went home to wrap up the evening watching "Everybody Loves Raymond." This is a movie that cannot accurately be said to have failed because it doesn't seem to have tried anything. It doesn't even make simple goals for itself. It only aims at getting Pavlovian responses from audiences too sleepy to realize they're being manipulated: Touching Moment, music cue, cry; Underdog Victory, music cue, cry; Retarded Guy, music cue, cry.
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