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LowComDom Performances Presents
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LowComDom Performances Presents
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Film Review - Pushing Tin
You know, I really like John Cusack, but this film just misses the mark. Pushing Tin is supposed to be a comedy about air traffic controllers. Just isn't much comedy here. What we do get is a pissing match.
John Cusack is Nick "The Zone" Falzone, a New York Tri-State controller who is at the top of his game. Nick can stack them up and land them while staying calm cool and collected. Like many real life air traffic controllers, Nick and his buddies believe they really fly the planes, not the pilots. Then one day Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton) comes walking in with a reputation of being one of the hottest, and a bit crazy, controllers in the country. This is where the pissing match begins. The next thing you know, Nick is sleeping with Bell's wife.
The film soon turns into a swamp of paranoia, with each daring the other to go farther over the edge. What little comedy there is consists of college fraternity pranks the controllers play, as well as betting on how far a controller will get when coming back to the job after a nervous breakdown. The comedy is dark: one wife was saving up money for the kids' college fund as well as the fund for her husband's upcoming breakdown. There just isn't enough of this dark-side comedy.
This film probably looked good on paper, but Pushing Tin just doesn't make it on the screen.
Film Facts
Directed by Mike Newell
Released in 1999
MPAA Rating: R
Reviewed by Mongo
