On N List of Movie Reviews

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Nothing in Common (1986)

Rate: 8
Viewed: 1/26

1/26: This is the Tom Hanks I like.

After the 80's wrapped up, he stopped doing comedies, took on safe projects, and became Saint Tom. As a result, he won two Oscars and received a lot of bullshit adulation. People tend to forget he was a different kind of gifted actor and a very funny guy.

One film that had fallen on the wayside is Nothing in Common. Tom Hanks gives a top five performance of his career and has many funny scenes. The on-the-fly writing suits him well. I like how the parental conflict plays out for a successful advertising exec after years of minimal contact. Sure, the film feels uneven for a while, but it'll come together at the end.

There are strong performances along the way by Sela Ward, Bess Armstrong who is familiar as the mother in My So-Called Life, Eva Marie Saint, Hector Elizondo, and Barry Corbin. The best of them all is Jackie Gleason in the final role of his career, allowing him to recover from two disastrous sequels of the Smokey and the Bandit franchise. He would die afterwards within a year.

All in all, people say Big got Tom Hanks started successfully in the drama genre, but it's really Nothing in Common that did.

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