by Daniel Stephens

Created on: July 19, 2009   Last Updated: September 05, 2011

Punchline (1988)

Dir. David Seltzer; starring Tom Hanks, Sally Field, John Goodman, Mark Rydell, Kim Griest, Paul Mazursky, Damon Wayans.

Punchline could be noted for the first cinematic meeting between Tom Hanks and Sally Field. It's more interesting because here in 1988 the pair play a couple of disillusioned stand-up comics who find an attraction in each other that would make their later incarnation as mother and son in Forrest Gump shamefully obscene. But in Punchline, Field's older and wiser mother of three is the perfect antidote to Hanks' wide-eyed wisecracking but deep-rooted insecurity. Writer/director David Seltzer sees these two characters as polar opposites living in the same world, each with a unique take on how to succeed in it. Both dream of comedy stardom but what is particularly interesting is how Hanks (young and hopeful) and Field (mature and retrospective) approach their goal.

David Seltzer was going through a particularly creative patch in his career when making the film. Known mainly for his screenplays and not his direction, Punchline was to be his second feature length movie as writer/director after the excellent teen drama Lucas. His screenplays are noted for their strong characters and an ability to meld engaging relationships out of traditionally disparate cultural sectors. In Lucas it was the strange, lonely school "geek" and the beautiful blonde cheerleader; in Punchline it's a free-spirited twenty-something male and the bored, suburban housewife.

Without any doubt Seltzer is a better writer than a director (consider some of the fine examples of his work under the care of more accomplished filmmakers: The Omen directed by Richard Donner and Bird On A Wire directed by John Badham), suffering from the affliction affecting so many screenwriters-turned-directors - pacing. Frequently, Seltzer doesn't know where to cut his treasured dialogue or trim a scene fearing we may lose its motivation, and the film is disadvantaged as a result. At a shade under two hours long, the film could have done with a few trims to bring it in fifteen minutes shorter.

But when Seltzer gets it right he finds a graceful tone many experienced directors can only aspire to achieve. The opening sequence plays like a drug deal with Seltzer subverting our expectations while simultaneously setting up the cutthroat world of amateur stand-up comedians. Later, Seltzer finds a deeply affecting moment when a lustful Hanks tries to win Field's heart in a taxi cab, while

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