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Actors: Tom Hanks, Sally Field, John Goodman, Mark Rydell, Kim Greist
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Punchline |
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This 1988 film by writer-director David Seltzer (The Omen, Shining Through) depicts the hungry, desperate world of stand-up comics. Steven Gold (Hanks) is a recent med school dropout who works at a New York comedy club called The Gas Station, where the wages are lousy and everyone's looking for that big break. Also moonlighting at The Gas Station is older housewife and mother Lilah Krytsick (Field), whose insurance salesman hubby John (Goodman) is puzzled but reasonably supportive of her desire to make people laugh. Steven ends up coaching Lilah, who doesn't appear to have a lot of talent and tries to buy jokes that will work for her, and ends up attracted to her, needy guy that he is. Despite some terrific acting by Hanks, especially when he has a near breakdown on stage, the script here (particularly for the critical comedy acts themselves) is undependable, and the ending a bit pat.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Punchline |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1980's-1999
Getting ahead in:
- entertainment world
Job/Profession/Poverty Story?
Yes
Job:
- performer or comedian
Poverty story?
Yes
Poverty plotlets:
- coping with poverty (general)
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- comedian
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric:
Yes
- obsessed
- emotionally unstable
Hair color?
- brunette (Black)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) average
Events of movie makes character more...
- tougher
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- soggy whimpering jelly muffin
Sense of humor?
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- small businessman
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 40%
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
Misc setting
- theater
- bar
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
Movie makes you feel...
- all mixed up
Any profanity?
- Some foul language
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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