Nothing in Common (1986)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Garry Marshall

Writers:

Rick Podell (written by)
Michael Preminger (written by)

Release Date:

30 July 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

On his way up the corporate ladder. David Basner confronts his greatest challenge: his father.

Plot:

A successful ad man (Hanks) must juggle his ever-demanding career while his parents' marriage breaks up.

Plot Keywords:

Advertising | Business | Businesswoman | Chicago Illinois | Bar

Cast

Tom Hanks	...	David Basner
Jackie Gleason	...	Max Basner
Eva Marie Saint	...	Lorraine Basner
Hector Elizondo	...	Charlie Gargas
Barry Corbin	...	Andrew Woolridge
Bess Armstrong	...	Donna Mildred Martin
Sela Ward	...	Cheryl Ann Wayne
Cindy Harrell	...	Shelley the Stewardess
John Kapelos	...	Roger the Commercial Director
Carol Messing	...	David's Secretary
Bill Applebaum	...	Ted Geller
Mona Lyden	...	Mishi
Anthony Starke	...	Cameron
Julio Alonso	...	Rick
Jane Morris	...	Dale

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Iceland:L | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | USA:PG | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Delphi Films

Trivia:

Tom Hanks gets off the plane and sees the drivers holding names of passengers; one of the drivers is holding "Isolde" and another "Tristan". These are the star-crossed lovers of legend.

Quotes:

David Basner: I'm protecting my balls here, just as I am sure you have done on many occasions.

Movie Connections:

References 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Soundtrack:

Over the weekend

Lots of talent, script a little facile

The film begins with a barrage of wit from Tom Hanks as an adman whose business is creativity. And indeed why should he not be witty? But then we meet his father, who is on his way to dying the death of a salesman, and his father is just as brilliantly witty. The lines just aren't lines that ordinary people could come up with. Everyone is a little too quick with the comedy, and when the comedy pauses, everyone is a little too quick to come up with the deep but gracefully phrased emotional revelations. And yet the movie is long; though most of the large cast of characters is quite undeveloped, still the script has a mighty load of relationships: Hanks with his father, Hanks with his mother (not so much), Hanks with two different girlfriends, the father with the mother, Hanks with his boss, and Hanks with the big client. The big client is perhaps the worst: the stereotype of the big blowhard who is charmed when you call him a big blowhard to his face.

I think there were two movies here: the one about the workplace, with a little subplot about the father; and the one about the father, with a little subplot about the workplace. I suspect, with no huge evidence, that someone had an emotional investment in not leaving material out. Some of the details have the ring of autobiography.

Several big talents appear in the movie: not only Jackie Gleason, Tom Hanks, and Eva Marie Saint but also Hector Elizondo and, in a tiny role, Dan Castellaneta. Nobody does anything here that he hasn't done better elsewhere, but still it's good to see them all.