Review of Pushing Tin (1999) by Jack M — 19 Jul 2007

This is a fairly plotless film. It revolves around John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton, playing two air traffic controllers who fight to see who is more of a man. With Cate Blanchett on Cusack's arm, and Angelina Jolie on Thornton's, you know the film will not be without marital problems, although the fight between the two men serves only to weaken one marriage and strengthen another. In the grand scheme of things, this film isn't about much. It has very little substance, not working towards anything major. It's a film more about relationships than aviation, and if you want a film about relationships between characters, see Lost In Translation.

Mike Newell directs - he's the chap that has done Four Weddings and a Funeral, Mona Lisa Smile and Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire. I haven't seen the latter, but judging on the former two and Pushing Tin, he's a director that works very much on relationships between characters, and seems to miss out a plot fairly often.

The writers are similar to Newell. Darcy Frey has only written this one film, but she did a documentary on basketball players in the early-1990s, based upon relationships and characters. And Glen and Les Charles, the writers of Cheers, have Pushing Tin as their only film to date. Their scripts will work in a series like Cheers, because series revolve around characters - doesn't matter what length of time the plot runs over, because if the characters are strong, people will carry on to watch.

Pushing Tin is infinitely better than the other Cusack aviation film, Con Air, which continues to be one of the most ridiculous films I've ever seen. But there are better plane films out there. If you will sacrifice the seriousness, Airplane! and Airplane 2! are both fantastic films, far, far better.

The problem with the aviation genre is that so many films are just dire. Air Force One is both awful and stupid, Hot Shots is also a spoof, Top Gun is dreadful, Pearl Harbour (The English spelling is harboUr, and the Yanks speak English!) isn't much to write home about. Cuba Gooding Jr. is in it for goodness sakes, that's as much as needs to be said about that.

If you're willing to venture outside the earth's atmosphere for a flying film, I'd definitely go for Apollo 13. It's a wonderful story, capturing the mood of the film and characters excellently. And Pearl HarboUr isn't really that bad when all's said and done, despite having a cast which would be better served to working in a coffee shop. But if you're willing to go for comedy rather than a serious plot, there is quite simply no better film than Airplane!. It's a 10/10 movie. And if you've seen that, see the sequel - they're both far better films than Pushing Tin.