Nothing in Common (1986)

"You got a girl there? Anybody you know?"

This is yet another chapter in the book of Hanks films that seemed like a great idea, but that I'd never heard of. Of course, there's always a reason for that.

The premise was very promising. A young, somewhat immature advertising executive (Hanx) finds himself juggling his burgeoning career while attempting to navigate the recent separation of his parents, and in particular looking in on his father Max (Jackie Gleason), your typical grumpy old man. Garry Marshall directed; Eva Marie Saint, Hector Elizondo, and Sela Ward costarred. Sounding great so far. Oh, and the music, the delicious 80s transitional instrumental themes are positively glorious in this movie. 

Hanx plays David Basner, a brilliant ad exec and a bit of a playboy who has just received a promotion in his firm and an office with a view. His colleagues celebrate by presenting him with a bottle of Windex (y'know, for that big ol' window) and an impressive operatic serenade. Ha! This is fun! 

But then it all starts to go a little off.

David is in the middle of trying to land a contract with a big airline and fawning over the shrewd, savvy daughter of the CEO played by Sela Ward (who, as my husband and I remarked this morning, has aged remarkably well, bless her) when he learns of his parents' separation. As one might expect, each party is fumbling at adjusting to their new single status, and David does his level best to help while trying to make sense of the whole thing. He turns for counsel to his boss Charlie (Elizondo), who has a great side gag in not being able to find a convincing hairpiece to cover his shiny pate, and old flame Donna Mildred Why-Does-She-Bother-With-Him Martin. 

There are easy throwaway jokes followed by moments of serious tension that leave me feeling a little uncomfortable to the point where I'm wondering whether it's even appropriate to laugh, like being told a dirty joke at a funeral. 

If I had to sum up my reservations with this film, I'd need only one word: editing. The direction was spot-on, the performances are well done, and the writing itself is really very smart. But the whole tone of the movie is thrown off by the fact that there's a whole lot of jokes followed by a whole lot of drama. There's too much screen time given to lesser characters (sorry, Sela Ward) and far too little to people who turn out to be important (Donna Mildred Martin, we hardly knew ye). I get the strong feeling that some very important scenes didn't make it into the finished version of this film, and I'd give my eye teeth for ten minutes on that cutting room floor.

Toward the end, the drama really starts to pick up, and it gets good. So good. Max gets sick to the point where David finds himself faced with choosing either going on the road to promote the ad campaign he's fought so hard to land or sitting at his father's bedside. Having chosen his family, he tells off the airline CEO who has balked at his decision: "Look, I've done the job. Alright? Take my stuff, do whatever you want to do with it. But for the fifth time now, I'm not going anywhere with anybody. And don't you ever fucking touch me again!" It's a raw, incredible, beautiful moment. In a couple of the films we've seen so far, I've complained about lack of development in Hanx's character. But in David Basner, I got character development in spades. I don't know what Hanx thinks of this movie, but I saw it as a turning point in his career. 

When I started this project, I wanted to really get a deeper appreciation of Tom Hanks and his career, to revisit some classics, and I was really hoping to discover some hidden gems. As I mentioned, there's always a reason I've never heard of these things. In a way, a part of me dreads seeing these early 80s entries, because I feel like as a Hanx fan, I'm under a strict moral obligation to love everything that he does. And to this point, I haven't loved everything, and that's really kind of a gut punch to the psyche of hero worship I've got going. I'm reliving that moment that occurred sometime during my teenage years when I discovered that my parents were not, as I had previously seemed, omnipotent, infallible creatures, but (gasp!) human. Bizarrely enough, I'm realizing that that was part of the beauty of this film. David himself is rocked by his parents' separation, and in talking to each of them, he learns what flawed, complicated people they are, and I think that in turn makes him love them more. If I were to stop this project today (gasp!), I would already have learned so much more about the journey of Tom Hanks' career, from bit part to leading man, than I ever expected. I came into this thing thinking that he was flawless, that he could do no wrong. I've begun to learn that even he had his stumbling blocks (I'm looking at you, Bachelor Party), that he had moments of growth, and getting to see one of those moments right before my eyes was amazing, and I appreciate him all the more for it. I'm not going to love everything that he's done, but I'm settling in to enjoy the ride.

The closing moments of Nothing In Common see David sitting at the edge of a pond with Donna, reflecting on their history together and perhaps starting to appreciate her role in his life.

"This is comfortable," he observes. "This is very comfortable."

Donna wraps her hand in his, and after a brief moment, says, "I think so, too."

Ditto, Donna Mildred Martin. Ditto.