The Year of Hanks

"I hate cul-de-sacs. There's only one way out, and the people are kind of weird." A quiet street. An average neighborhood. On the surface, things appear to be quite normal. But there's trouble brewing beneath the glossy veneer of the cul-de-sac on Mayfield Place. Oh, if that isn't an extended metaphor, I don't know what is. To my recollection, I've only seen this movie once before, and I'm not positive I even saw it the whole way through. I didn't recall anything remarkable about it, but I was eager to give it a fresh view. Hanx plays Ray Peterson, a suburban family man (his first role of the kind, one that he almost didn't take for fear it would limit the kinds of roles he could play in the future) who, despite the protests of his wife Carol (Carrie Fisher), decides to spend his vacation puttering around the house. It's at this time that Ray notices something off about the eccentric Klopek family who have just moved in nex

"How long has this dog been bleeding?" "Not long enough!" I've been anxiously awaiting this one for the entire Hanks season (Hankstide?). I don't recall whether someone asked me specifically what my favorite Hanx film was, or if I posed the question to myself, but it didn't take me much thought to decide on Turner & Hooch. It's not the most obvious choice. It's not one of his biggest hits or deepest roles, but it really is a lot of fun.  Hanx once again steps into the polished Oxfords of a police detective (oops,  investigator ) that he last donned in  Dragnet . Only this time, the character he portrays is pretty much the polar opposite of Pep Streebek. Matter-of-fact, compulsively neat, procedure-driven Scott Turner would probably hate Pep Streebek, or at the very least find him impossible to live with. Turner is Joe Friday with just a little less procedural gravitas and a little more humor - he does an impeccable job of steaming

"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

Last night I had the privilege of attending an interview with Tom Hanks at USC by NPR's David Greene discussing Hanx's recently-released collection of short stories, Uncommon Type .  I find it difficult to put into words what this evening meant to me. I honestly can't recall the moment my (figuratively and platonically speaking, please don't come after me, Rita Wilson) love affair with Tom Hanks started. I don't remember what movie it was that pushed me over the line from, "Hey, this guy makes pretty decent stuff," to, "This guy. This guy. He's my utter and absolute favorite." I don't know when it was that I realized the level of deep respect and admiration that I had for him as a performer and all-around human being. Nearly (although not all, as we have seen) every movie he's been in has been well-received. The man has never, ever found himself on the business end of a scandal or the front page of a tabloid. Until now, howev

"Damn it, why can't you look terrible? I've been out walking the streets trying to convince myself I wasn't in love with you and I come back here and you're barefoot and you're adorable." Tom Hanks is pretty well known for being the penultimate nice guy in Hollywood, which is a tough thing to be in an industry as cutthroat as filmmaking is. He's good to his fans, always happy to pose for a picture or have one of his famous lines quoted back to him. He even jokingly (or not, fingers crossed) pledged to run for Vice President of the United States with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as the presidential candidate. A cursory Google search yields countless stories of the charming, funny, endearing things he's done. Even if, for whatever reason, you don't care for his movies, it's hard not to admire the man himself for his character. I've always wondered what kind of person could possibly not like Tom Hanks. Tonight, I found out.