Review of Pushing Tin (1999) by Jason H — 18 Mar 2008

[i]Pushing Tin[/i].

dir. Mike Newell.

Ah, the cleansing authority of new blood. Nick "The Zone" Falzone (John Cusack) is a cocky bastard in love with his own shadow. He's got the gum-smacking Brooklynesque wife named Connie (Cate Blanchett), two semi-adorable brats, and a brilliant career easing airplanes out of the sky. He is a man who has written his script in such a way that he never feels out of control. In reality he's tightly wound, neurotic, and shamelessly corny. Enter Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton) and his wife Mary (Angeline Jolie), a couple of outsiders who begin to cause great stress to Nick's perfect life. The joy in this film is seeing how Nick's defense mechanisms start to crumble under pressure. It all starts with a minor contest at a restaurant to determine who will pick up the tip. Nick's coworkers have gathered for lunch and Nick tosses packages of matches at everyone and orders them to light a match. The first one to drop the match gets the tip. Russell and Nick are naturally the last men standing and eventually Nick falters leaving Russell with a small victory. Then at a barbecue Nick sets a new record in free throws. Not to be outdone, Russell bites on the challenge and beats Nick's record. These two incidents set up what is to follow. Nick sees Mary at a grocery store and she is crying. To cheer her up he invites her to dinner. She gets drunk, he follows her home in his car, and she invites him inside. Mary tells Russell who is far too understanding from Nick's perspective. Nick confronts Russell and instead of getting the beating he knows he deserves, he is met with patience and a sense of absolute calm.

Billy Bob Thornton possesses a mesmeric authenticity in this film. He plays the outsider who lets his actions speak clearly for him. Russell does not waste time thinking too terribly much about what he is about to do. This is in direct contrast to how Nick behaves. Nick thinks everything through and oftentimes can't shut his mouth off in the bargain. He says too much and in the process says not much at all. As he slips into a paranoid trance, he begins to falter and life slips the rug out from under him. First his wife leaves him and then he nearly causes two head on collisions between planes. His only option is to track down Russell, who has left New York for Colorado. There he learns how not to think and is in the process reborn. He faces something inside himself that has lay dormant for much of his life. His inability to handle real pressure suggests a man who never was really in control to begin with. If a little stress causes an almost complete meltdown, then the individual cannot be too terrible stable and thereby his entire self image has been distorted. Yes, he is an expert in his field. Yes, he seems to be involved in a successful relationship. However, despite these positives, his core Self beneath all the jabbering is fractured.

Cate Blanchett plays Connie as a woman struggling to improve herself culturally. One doesn't get the impression that she is particularly bright but is moving toward a broader understanding of language, of art, and basically seeing the world through a different lens. She wants more than she has been given and Blanchett captures the nuances of her motivation to achieve her ends. John Cusack never seems to manage to make Nick into a sympathetic character. Nick has no integrity and lacks self-control. Cusack's scattershot method of delivering lines only prove to make his character more twitchy and annoying as the film progresses. Whatever catharsis he reaches seems undeserved but it doesn't serve the intentions of this type of film. Rarely has there been an ending as hopelessly contrived and meaningless as this one. It's supposed to be cute but it simply grates due primarily to its implausibility. It's one of those Hollywood endings designed to make everyone watching feel good but it comes off as entirely too schmaltzy.

Overall, there are some energetic moments in this film. Cusack plays his stock neurotic and both Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie help us remember when their torrid romance was enough to make sane and stable folks dive for cover. Jolie captures the alcoholic spirit of her character by barely enunciating her words and shimmying about in a too-tight dress and leather. She's the darkly mysterious outlaw storming into town to wreak havoc with her wild sexuality and crazy affectations. Cate Blanchett manages a credible accent and creates a complex character out of something that many lesser actresses would falter at. She is a dominating presence in this film despite the very nature of her secondary role. Ultimately, this plane nosedives near the end and crashes horrifically in a field a hundred miles from the nearest airport. It loses steam and simply goes down. For much of it, though, it creates an interesting dynamic between two ultra-cool types and the insulated society they gently penetrate. With no intentions of their own, the badasses tear down the facade masquerading as a life for the central character. They are cleansing forces destined to bring harsh lessons to those careless souls who cross their path. In a word, they are salvation.