John Cusack, Billy Bob Thorton, Cate Blanchette, Angelina Jolie and the supporting cast make for an entertaining film of life and its trials highlighted by the occupational strains of being air traffic controllers. The performances are fine- Thorton once again on a character tangent that shows his keen powers of interpretation; Cusack- has he EVER not delivered?; Blanchette- I totally zoned and forgot she was in this prior to sitting down in the theatre- showing an thorough ability to act "American" as a somewhat stereotyped, somewhat non-PC wife; Jolie as an eccentric matches Billy Bob's left-handed manner of tackling life yet ultimately displays a character that is too common in reality: a person that apparently feels to be an individual she has to stick out with behavior that is at once both socially unacceptable and tired in its in-your-face attempt to "shock". The film does manage to show the dedication to the task of controlling aircraft AND the requirement for a specific breed of men and women. Cusack and Billy Bob are these types in the film and pay homage over-all to a profession that I for one very much appreciate. The competitiveness is mostly fictitious- as portrayed in the film, it simply would not be tolerated in the real-world. I like the quirkyness of almost all of the characters, certainly the camaraderie of the controllers and the ability of the film to show, maybe unintentionally, that unlike the renown "high-stress" destructiveness of the air traffic control profession- they have the same problems all of us have, but probably arrive at them sooner. It's a fun, captivating, well-acted and written movie that ventures into a refreshing not too-tread upon area.
Review of Pushing Tin
