Pushing Tin

Updated June 26, 2020 | Infoplease Staff

This up-tempo comedy opens with a fascinating, well-paced look at the fly-by-night machismo of air traffic controllers. It closes with a tired face-off between manic New Yorker Nick Falzone (John Cusack) and coolly confident Southwestern newcomer, Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton) that sends each after the other's wife in a scramble for dominance. Somewhere between the fresh premise and the exhausted macho posturing lies Pushing Tin. Elements of cliché detour the film's promise and new ideas, but the ride isn't too bumpy. Even when Thornton and Cusack have to spar like testosterone-driven alpine goats their acting remains better than normal, and Angeline Jolie enlivens the screen as Bell's enticingly dissatisfied wife.