Stars: John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, Jake Weber, Kurt Fuller, Philip Akin

Director: Mike Newell

Summary: Nick Falzone is the best air traffic controller on Long Island -until Russell Bell rides into town like a motorcycle-riding cowboy. The two men soon engage in a contest of wit and wills...

Nick Falzone (John Cusack) is a confident, accomplished air traffic controller whose life is turned upside down when drifter Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton) joins his tight-knit work team and threatens to drive him insane. Stakes are high and pressure is constant in the world of air traffic control, making the line between excellence and failure dangerously thin. While jokes provide the team of controllers with an important release from their stressful occupation, a narrow division exists between teasing and animosity.
Mike Newell's careful research of the air traffic control profession, including its frequent emotional toll, lends a high level of realism to PUSHING TIN. Newell combines a depiction of the demandingly precise work done in air traffic control towers with an emotional portrait of the people charged with the safety of thousands of airline passengers and crew every day. The film also features the charming talents of Cate Blanchett and Angelina Jolie.

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Blessed with a fantastic cast and slick direction by Mike Newell, Pushing Tinis one of those invigorating movies (like Wall Streetor All the President's Men) that takes you behind the scenes of a dramatic profession--in this case, the high-stress world of air-traffic controllers--and throws in a source of conflict to ramp up the tension. For ace "tin-pusher" Nick Falzone (John Cusack), that conflict arrives in the form of Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton), whose Zen-like control of air traffic immediately puts Nick on the defensive. Add an incident of infidelity and Nick's subsequent self-loathing and guilt and Pushing Tinturns into a macho contest, with Nick's and Russell's spouses (Cate Blanchett and Angelina Jolie, respectively) stuck in the middle.

At that point, this otherwise splendid comedy-drama turns almost fatally silly and hits additional turbulence by lapsing into a predictable series of pat resolutions. Fortunately, the jazzy cast avoids a nosedive into the tarmac, and if you recall Blanchett's Oscar-nominated performance in Elizabeth, you'll be amazed by her flawless transformation into a smart and sweetly devoted New Jersey housewife. Dialogue is a major asset here, and the script (by TV veterans Glen and Les Charles) gives Cusack &co. plenty to chew on. That makes Pushing Tina breezy good time, and its flaws are easily forgiven. --Jeff Shannon

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Wide Screen, 16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1999
Release Date:	June 30, 2003
Runtime:	119 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	14248 D V D
Keywords:	Comedy, General, Tin, Wide, Screen, Pushing
Genre:	Comedy