Saw this as I was in the mood for a comedy. It was a rainy day and I needed to be uplifted. Wrong move.
For me, this was a heavy handed drama with workplace humor. When you are dealing with a job as stressful as air traffic controllers, these jokes can be funny. In context, to many on the outside world they are also sick and sad at the same time.
The plot is more a device to move the character of Nick "No Fly" Falzone through the movie. Billy Bob Thornton's character Russell Bell is never fully developed, making him two dimensional.In no way is his character equal to Nick, no matter how the movie poster and ads portray him.
To get an idea of how "funny" this movie is, within the first ten minutes we have Mrs. Falzone (Cate Blanchett) being asked by her husband "You're happy, aren't you Connie?". Half an hour into it we see the controllers getting "liquored up" at a bar-b-que while the wives discuss dealing with the grinding jaws of their husbands.
By the time Russell and Nick are requesting more planes, and Russell gets the 747 you can see where this movie is going. Yeap, Russell is going to move Nick outside of his comfortable place in life.
This film doesn't tie itself in a pretty little bow. If you are looking for that, I recommend another film. If you are in the mood to see a tiny slice of the life of an aircraft controller, you might want to try Pushing Tin.
For me, this was a heavy handed drama with workplace humor. When you are dealing with a job as stressful as air traffic controllers, these jokes can be funny. In context, to many on the outside world they are also sick and sad at the same time.
The plot is more a device to move the character of Nick "No Fly" Falzone through the movie. Billy Bob Thornton's character Russell Bell is never fully developed, making him two dimensional.In no way is his character equal to Nick, no matter how the movie poster and ads portray him.
To get an idea of how "funny" this movie is, within the first ten minutes we have Mrs. Falzone (Cate Blanchett) being asked by her husband "You're happy, aren't you Connie?". Half an hour into it we see the controllers getting "liquored up" at a bar-b-que while the wives discuss dealing with the grinding jaws of their husbands.
By the time Russell and Nick are requesting more planes, and Russell gets the 747 you can see where this movie is going. Yeap, Russell is going to move Nick outside of his comfortable place in life.
This film doesn't tie itself in a pretty little bow. If you are looking for that, I recommend another film. If you are in the mood to see a tiny slice of the life of an aircraft controller, you might want to try Pushing Tin.