The Night Listener

New York public-radio raconteur Gabriel Noone (Williams) has legions of dedicated admirers—but none so remarkable as the AIDS-stricken 14-year-old author (Culkin) of a searing memoir about childhood sexual abuse, who engages the talk-show host in candid long-distance phone calls. The broadcaster, ever alert for material, at first doesn’t heed warning signs of something amiss. He should have learned from Oprah.

Heartsick over a lover (Cannavale) who has moved on, Gabriel regards his valiant teenage fan as the son he never had, and impulsively sets off for Wisconsin to find him. But the meeting is thwarted by the boy’s adoptive parent, a fiercely protective social worker (Collette). What begins as a struggle over access to the dying kid becomes something more sinister.

The screenplay gives Williams one of his best roles; with understated gestures and masterful vocal shadings, he crafts a subtle, empathetic portrait of an artist in crisis. Chameleon Collette has the flashiest part, a femme fatale all the more dangerous for her vulnerability. Throughout their showdowns, the movie artfully toys with point of view, illustrating how complicit the spinner is with the spun.—Andrea Gronvall