The Year of Hanks

"I want to spend the night with you." "You mean sleep over? Okay, but I get to be on top." Picture, if you will, an adult Josh Baskin curled up in a fetal position in on the bed in a seedy motel room on his first night alone in New York City. Or jumping on a trampoline with Susan. Or playing keep-away from Paul with a racquetball. Now picture those scenes with Robert DeNiro. Because that's almost what happened. Given the natural youthful exuberance and easy charm he'd demonstrated in his roles to date, it's little wonder Tom Hanks was Penny Marshall's first choice for the lead role in her coming of age comedy about a boy who makes an impulsive wish and finds himself aging from 13 to 30 overnight. Unfortunately, Hanks' schedule was occupied with filming  Dragnet  and  Punchline . After several other actors were considered (John Travolta, Albert Brooks, and Kevin Costner, to name a few), De Niro was cast. He even prepped for the role...

"I'll say anything to a woman and not mean it. I'll say I love her. I'll say she's beautiful. I'll say she's sexy. I don't mess around with funny." I knew this one was going to be a thinker from the outset. Amazon (from whom we rented) described it thus:  PUNCHLINE, the first major release to hit on this subculture of comedy clubs and struggling comedians, is both funny and sad. Sally Field, Tom Hanks and John Goodman star in this wonderful behind-the-scenes look at the world of stand-up comedy...where laughs are serious business.   Writer David Seltzer penned the script in 1979, drawing on his own experiences in comedy clubs. When his initial choice for director dropped out, Seltzer abandoned the script to the Columbia Pictures vault, where it sat largely forgotten until  producer Daniel Melnick came across it in a stack of other dust-gathering scripts and decided to revive it. Melnick initially intended the project to be a small-budg...

"Now let me tell you something, Streebek. There are two things which clearly differentiate the human species from animals. One, we use cutlery. Two, we're capable of controlling our sexual impulses. Now, you might be the exception, but don't drag me down into your private hell." I've seen a lot of different versions of Hanks. There's the solid, capable hero of  Sully and Captain Phillips.  There's the womanizer of Volunteers and Nothing in Common.  The workaholic in You've Got Mail  and Cast Away. And then there's this cheeky, irreverent scamp who thumbs his nose at authority and still manages to save the day while simultaneously tossing one liners at both his partner and the bad guys.  I'd seen Dragnet just once, I believe, back when the smell of plastic was still fresh on its VHS case. I would have been a first grader at that point, so that should give you a bit of an indication as to how well I remembered it. This is something of a ...