Pushing Tin Review
by "David E. Smith" (dave AT technopagan DOT org)April 28th, 1999
Air traffic controllers have one of the most demanding jobs on the planet, by most accounts. With nothing more than strips of paper and small radar scopes, they are responsible for thousands of lives daily. The profession "boasts" high rates of alcoholism, depression, burnout, and suicide.
Talking like auctioneers on meth, controllers have to keep track of dozens of airplanes, getting everyone where they need to go, on time, without killing anyone. The airspace around New York City has three major airports within twenty miles of each other, and the small facility responsible for controlling that area is the unlikely setting for "Pushing Tin." (The title, by the way, is controller lingo for maximizing use of airspace to keep planes on schedule.)
Nick "The Zone" Falzone (John Cusack) is the best controller in New York. Unlike most of his co-workers, his life outside the workplace isn't quite as intense as his job - for the most part, he's content to go home to his wife Connie (Cate Blanchett), his only outward concession to his six-figure salary a nice sportscar.
Enter Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton), another legend in the field, the one man better at his job than "The Zone." His Zen-like approach to the job and quiet demeanor shadow a wild nature - he rides a mean motorcycle and has a wife half his age (Angelina Jolie). He is very nearly the definition of "intensity," standing under landing 747s to get caught up in the backwash. And it pushes all of Falzone's alpha-male buttons.
"Pushing Tin" could have used a controller, as it seems to have trouble picking a theme. At times, Nick and Russell are engaged in a war of machismo, as they constantly try to outdo each other in everything from shooting free throws to bedding each other's wives (and, of course, landing planes). The mutual antagonism (and, very occasionally, mutual respect) would have made for a great movie on its own.
But at times it flies into comedic territory as well, though the jokes are generally subtle. Dry, intellectual humor can be difficult to pull off, but when they're given the chance, the cast does a fair job of it. The laughs are sparse enough that "Pushing Tin" can't really be billed as a comedy, though.
The last thirty minutes touch on the romance that the movie is billed for, and even elements of the classic male-bonding buddy movie. Any of these aspects could have been drawn out to make a movie with a consistent theme, that wouldn't feel quite as disjoint as "Pushing Tin." Perhaps because they can't latch onto any given kind of story in which to act, the cast turns in mediocre performances at best. Thornton has already done his controller schtick (in "Armageddon"), and Cusack's character just doesn't have anything distinctinve about it. Blanchett and Jolie, both award-winning actresses, are underutilized to the point of merely being attractive set dressing.
With a top-notch cast and intriguing setting, I wanted to like "Pushing Tin." But the script tries to push more tin than it can handle, leaving this movie hanging in midair and eventually crashing in the video store.
(This review was originally published in The Capaha Arrow, the student newspaper of Southeast Missouri State University.)
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
