Customer Reviews

Nothing in Common [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Once in a while you find a movie that mirrors your own actual relationship with someone. For me, Nothing In Common sums up my relationship with my father. Even though I do have a lot in common with my dad, I could definitely relate to the fights that father(Gleason) and son(Hanks) had in the movie.

I think that we were raised on thinking that Father Knows Best, but what happens when the father starts to lose it. Nothing In Common answers that question. This movie would make a great Father's Day gift.

Hanks starts out the movie as a grown-up child without a care in the world other than pleasing his every whim. He evolves into this mature adult who realizes that he owes more to his parents than just the occasional visit once every six months or a gift for Mother's and Father's Day.

Gleason starts out as an angry man who reluctantly asks his son for help. He becomes an enlightened father who is truly proud of his son.

I don't believe I'm giving to much away. I think that if you are a fan of Hanks, Gleason, and Garry Marshall. Enjoying this movie will not be difficult.

This movie is one of my favorites. I have lost count as to how many times that I've seen it.

This is one of my most treasured films of all time and I can't understand why it receives so little attention. This is the story of an immature but successful bachelor whose world is disrupted when he gets an unexpected call from his estranged father, telling him his mother left him. Tom Hanks gives one of his BEST performances (comedically AND dramatically) as the carefree fellow who is forced to get to know his parents all over again while supporting them emotionally.
While many label this a comedy--and it IS pretty funny-- I find it one of the most heartfelt and touching films ever thanks to a brilliant director, soppy but appropriate music, and an extraordinary cast. There've been so many films made concerning father-son relationships but if you're looking for the most genuinely realistic one, this is it. The final line of dialogue spoken by father to son ("You're the last person on earth I would've ever expected to come through for me") never fails to choke me up.

This is one of Tom Hanks' (and director Garry Marshall's) best films, yet it has received little publicity.

Among Hanks' fans I know who have seen this film, all hold it in very high regard. It's classic Tom Hanks - funny and serious at the same time. As it's promoters said, "It's a comedy and a drama, just like life." You will surely love it.

Jackie Gleason, Eva Marie Saint, Hector Elizondo, and the rest of the cast do wonderful jobs.

I only wish it was on DVD, but hopefully in time it will be.

I've watched this movie dozens of times, and was overjoyed to find it on DVD at last. This was (I believe) The Great One Jackie Gleason's final screen performance, and it showed the way of the future for Tom Hanks. Sela Ward also appears as a love interest, along with Hector Elizondo as his boss, and Eva Marie Saint as Hanks' mom.

The only thing that gets on my nerves just a little is the soundtrack. I think it's Christopher Cross, surely one of the most annoying alleged musicians ever to hit the big time.

The transfer to disk is good. The cast is excellent. The plot makes sense, and the script is near perfect. The story is about the relationship between Tom Hanks' character, David Basner, and his father, Max Basner. Its a wonder that anyone comes out right as an adult, and Hanks had no idea how screwed up his childhood had been until the night his father told him his mother had split. And soon thereafter his secretary gave him a message that his mother had called, and added "I had no idea you had parents."

Wonderful. Buy it, enjoy it.

This is the first movie where Tom Hanks really began to show his depth. It was a film that required him to open with the comedic chops he's honed so well but then, because of the deepening of the film's story from comedy to drama, requested so much more of him. He ultimately delivers in spades.

This is really a story about a son moving very fast in the fast lane of advertising. He's a pro and he loves what he does. He's also a personality that lives on charm and in the moment. But when his parents separate after years of marriage, his life changes rapidly from no personal responsibilities to a multitude of them. It's also begs a question that rarely gets told well- how do sons and daughters deal with parents as life turns the tables and we suddenly start having to deal with listening to and taking care of them? The changing of roles and responsibilities. As the film unfolds, it presents those concerns with proper weight, depth, sadness, growth and understanding.

Gary Marshall directed the film prior to his mega hit with Pretty Woman but I really think this is the better film of the two. He draws the best from Jackie Gleason, Eva Marie Saint and Beth Armstrong and Hector Alonzo- each lending a real ensemble cast feeling to the piece and although Tom Hanks shines- so do they.

Jackie Gleason deserves special mention because he really plays a rather hard, sad man at the end of the road as a clothing salesman, and he digs deep, never lending anything false to how this man thinks, feels and operates. The exchanges between him and Hanks about how he was raised lend a real truth to the role.

If you're looking for a film that has some humor and some depth of feeling in the same breath, this is an interesting evening's viewing.

An underrated film that deserves a second look and a larger audience.

I found Nothing in Common to have all the attributes of a wonderful film. From its soundtrack to its cast. The subject, a selfish advertising executive, thinks only of himself, but finally learns that family is important, and old friends are the best.

It is my most favourite Tom Hanks movie.

"Nothing in Common" is Tom Hanks' first dramatic role (though there are plenty of comedic moments) and Jackie Gleason's last movie role. Both do a fine job as a father and son who really have no use and less understanding of each other. Of course, there is a crisis (actually a series of crises) that forces them to choose further alienation or reconciliation. You will have to watch the movie to find out - and I encourage you to do so.

Tom Hanks plays David Basner, a young and talented up-and-coming ad executive. He is in all ways the flower of the YUPPIE ethos including the pre-AIDS casual attitude towards sex and relationships. Gleason plays Max Basner who is a way past his prime manufacturers rep for a children's clothes manufacturer. Max is by all accounts a difficult and angry man who used to be quite a charmer and ladies man.

Eva Marie Saint plays Lorraine Basner. Lorraine was trapped into a marriage some would call loveless, but it is much more complicated than that. Again, you will have to watch the movie to learn all the subtleties, but during the film she decides to break free and "find herself" by walking out of her home and marriage to file for divorce and get the first job of her life. Both Max and Lorraine begin relying on David in ways that reverse the parent - child relationship and put a real strain and the solo life and upward career path David is enjoying.

To complete the sea of troubles, David is in the middle of trying to land a huge airline deal for his firm that would likely make him a partner and has also developed a mutual attachment with Cheryl Ann Wayne (played by the amazing Sela Ward) who is important on the airline account for multiple reasons. Plus, there is the old friend who really needs to be more, Donna Martin, played wonderfully by Bess Armstrong.

Some have criticized the movie as having two minds. The stuff at the office is fun, raucous, aggressive, and often very funny. The Basner family saga is often very painful. I actually found the clash of these two stories more or less realistic. Many young professionals experience a much different life at work than at home and that leads to a lot of stress, broken marriages, and lots of counseling hours.

While I am not thrilled with all the choices the characters make along the way, I do think the movie ends in a good place - though some might find it maudlin. In my view, the character that comes off best is Charlie Gargas, David's Boss, played by the always effective Hector Elizondo.

Other reasons to view the film again are the very young and pre- Homer Simpson Dan Castellaneta, the now strange 80's fashions, and the wonderful exchanges between David Basner and the deadpan secretary, and Conrad Janis on trombone with his jazz band (however briefly).

I think the best reason to see the film is the performance delivered by Jackie Gleason. It is a tour de force of how to provide humanity to such an unsympathetic character. There is much subtlety and skill in his portrayal of Max Basner and it is very memorable.

With my family on a The Honeymooners kick (including the The Lost Episodes) from Gleason's earlier variety show), they wanted to see some later work by him.

Of course, with my family also being Tom Hanks fans, this film was an easy choice for a lazy Sunday afternoon. When I first saw this film it seemed funnier to me, but perhaps that is because the serious stuff really didn't hit home at that point in my youth, but having had my father die a rather lonely and broken man in a nursing home earlier this year, I found this story more poignant than in my youth. The story now rings more true and instead of noticing the comedy in a drama, as I did in my younger days, I am now finding the drama in the comedy. Amazing how life experience can alter a perspective.

Tom Hanks plays, for the upteenth time, an immature adult who can't keep serious relationships, thinks life is one big joke, and, in his own words, moved away from home and just "waited for his parents to die." In spite of his callous nature, both his attitude and behavior is rather realistic and, even likable at times. He just wants to coast through and enjoy life without a lot of emotional baggage and having grown up in a home with a distant and somewhat absent father and a doting, but emotionally frigid mother, one can understand his desire to enjoy and experience a life he never had growing up in the first place; hence, Tom creates a believable character who at times is both lovable and annoying as all hell.

Hanks' character gets an emotional and literal wake-up call when his father, wonderfully played by Gleason in, ironically, his last role, tells him in both a sad and sensationally funny dialogue of how his, Tom's, mother has left . . . with everything. At this point, many reviewers here reveal far too much of the story that little surprises that would have been nice to discover while watching the film are now lost if you've read the other reviews, including the Spotlight ones. I won't go that road other than to say that things regarding the parents in this film are nothing like they appear as the title refers not only to Tom and Gleason, but also Gleason and Eva Marie Saint who plays his wife in a terrifically understated performance.

What was intended as a comedy about family relationships between people who have little in common other than last name, eventually becomes a serious story that is only laced with humor and poignant humor at that. Gleason's last role is as memorable as his Ralph Kramden, an equally bull-headed, loud, pipe-dreamer, who, while having some awful character traits, is still sympathetic. Although this character is far less lovable than Kramden's whose motives where always covered with good intentions, this character is more bitter and hurt and that is why many of us can identify with him in one way or another. He is very reminicent of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman in that he feels like a failure, but boasts of being a success to cover his hurt. Life has somehow passed him by and his family life is nothing like he had hoped or imagined it would be. Life, in short, has been one great letdown for him.

The supporting roles are wonderfully filled by the ever reliable Hector Elizando (Pretty Woman) as Tom's hair deficient but understanding boss, the cute as a button Bess Armstrong (whose career never took off, but should have easily) as Tom's old flame who is always there for hm, and the terrific Eva Marie Saint. Relative newcomer at the time, Sela Ward of The Day After Tomorrow and The Fugitive is about as hot as you can get without literally being on fire. I have always thought she was one of our great looking "mature" actresses (she is older than most think), but to see her here in 1986 . . . WOW doesn't even cover it. Of course, this woman has acting chops to go with the great looks and nearly steals the film out from under Hanks every time they are on screen together.

Well, there you have it. A film heavily promoted as a comedy, with two great comedians (of which Hanks was mostly known as at the time), is far more a moving drama only laced with humor on family relationships and the impact our homelives have on us as adults and at what costs we measure success.

I order this and two others about a week before the holidays and didn't expect them until after the new year but I got them with plenty of time to wrap and surprise a few people.

As one can see from the reviews, this is a good film. However, I was disappointed not to see more of Jackie Gleason, which is the reason I bought it. He was a great man/comedian and I loved watching him. I felt the film dwelled too much on Tom Hank's character playing around, etc. and I just wanted to see more of Gleason I guess. Good film though and the ending is heartening.