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Pushing Tin review
:. Director: Mike Newell
:. Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Angelina Jolie
:. Running Time: 2:04
:. Year: 1999
:. Country: USA
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Pushing Tin, is such a lame comedy about air traffic controlers, that one wonders how such a valuable cast ended up crashing in on it.
The plot, if we can call it like that, focuses on the rivalry between an arrogant and cynical John Cusack and a half-breed zen Native American played by Billy Bob Thornton.
Unfortunately, Pushing Tin falls short from the beginning, since the premise does not make any sense. Indeed, the cause of their rivalry is so botched up, that not one second in the resulting chain of events can be believed. Their reciprocal animosity is the result of a nasty look at a stoplight that turns into an unending race to be number one.
Then the movie keeps wavering between comedy, drama, and a Harlequin romance with a pinch of sex like a cheap novel. There is even an action scene with a bomb threat that comes out of nowhere. The movie has no direction because it takes too many different directions, what makes you wonder if there is someone in the cinematographic control tower. However, this is not a beginner directing since Mike Newell is known for Four Weddings & a Funeral & Donnie Brasco.
The senseless draft style of Pushing Tin is probably the result of some demagogic or beginner screenwriter added with the vulgar writing that is the staple of all the favorite Hollywood marketing ingredients such as 8mn of action, 8mn of drama, 8mn of comedy, 8mn of love.. .
In terms of casting, the actors are prisonners of the superficiality of the film. While John Cusack is comfortable in his classic role, Billy Bob Thornton looks bored to death with a look that says
"What am I doing here at the first place?". Blanchett & Jolieunfortunately do not have that much to do since their parts are almost cameos. In the same way, why do Cusack & Blanchett have kids if to only show them for thirty seconds of the two endless hours of the movie?
In the middle of this air disaster, there are a few good laughs thanks to the ironic lines of Cusack & Thornton's "I don't give a shitism".
Pushing Tin is just a parody (but of what exactly?) with undercasted actors, whose final romantic scene in the cockpit would be a perfect match for Airplane.
Fred Thom
 Movie Reviews: American Films
Reviews 2012 - present
Reviews 1998 - 2012
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