User Reviews

Pushing Tin is somewhat of an odd movie. It's not really funny enough to be considered a comedy, and it's not really compelling/dramatic enough to be considered a good drama. It attempts to pull off both at once, but never really succeeds.

The pacing seems a little "off". You always expect the movie to pick-up at some point but it never really does. It does manage to move along quick enough that it keeps you awake (barely), but I always found myself wanting the story to move someplace / anyplace to keep me more interested than I was.

The story itself primarily centers around the antics of Nick Falzone (John Cusack) and Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton), both of whom are air traffic controllers. To it's credit, I've never seen a movie about ATC's, but at the same time Nick and Russell could have been in any other profession and the story would have held up. I sometimes think the writer chose ATC's simply because no one else had done it.

The main conflict centers around Nick's desire to out-do Russell. Why he feels the need to do this is never adequately explained. It's also somewhat of a mystery as to what Nick is hoping to accomplish by out-doing Russell. Most of their competitions are basically irrelevant and don't prove much anyway: holding onto a match the longest, shooting freethrows, stacking as many planes into a queue as possible, etc, etc. Their "battle of wits", as it were, eventually begins to involve their significant others. Unfortunately the respective wives (Blanchett and Jolie) are seemingly little better than pawns in Nick and Russell's bizarre and meaningless mind game. They don't have much depth of character, nor any wants/desires of their own (beyond the superficial), and, as a result, you don't really care what happens to them.

So, in short, Pushing Tin isn't that funny (though I seem to remember it being billed as a comedy) nor is the story engaging enough to be considered a good drama. As noted in my header, it's not a bad movie, but it isn't that good either. Worth a rental if you've seen everything else.

I rate it 5/10.

Director Mike Newell's `Pushing Tin' is about the turbulent life of air traffic controllers. Its delightful and thought-provoking screenplay is not intended for the usual `airhead' moviegoer. So please put on your thinking cap for this one. The film stars John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett, and Angelina Jolie. Thornton and Jolie executed average `plane' performances. However, Cusack and Blanchett rose high with theirs. I do not blame Billy Bob or Angelina for not going up to par with John and Cate. Maybe, Billy Bob and Angelina were way too much in the clouds on and off the set, or maybe it was just that their characters were not fully developed in the script. Even though i am not `Pushing Tin' as one of the best film of 99, it is still one that you should put on the `safe landing looking' section. *** Average

Another brilliant performance by John Cusack, and an equally cool one by Billy Bob Thornton. These two actors work so well together, and provide a superb onscreen chemistry. There's some lovely visuals in there too, especially of the traffic control screens, or the standing on the runway video.

The story is sometimes odd, and the characters derail in the wierdest fashion, but it's a nice story and has a message for all competitive people out there. You won't laugh insanely, but you'll giggle. A very enjoyable film.

Here's 1999's winner for the film least likely to be shown during an overseas flight. Cusack stars as a hotshot air traffic controller whose top dog status is threatened by the arrival of the equally gifted but enigmatic Billy Bob Thornton. Cusack's mounting rivalry with the inscrutable Thornton eventually consumes his personal life as he falls prey to Thornton's sexy wife (Angelina Jolie) and his marriage (to Cate Blanchett) gradually disintegrates. Director Mike Newell showed great flair in balancing comedy and drama in 1994's "Four Weddings And A Funeral", but here the mix is less assured and the extremes far too close together. Only fitfully amusing, "Pushing Tin" too rarely concentrates on its examination of air traffic controllers and their daily stresses, opting instead for a simple one-upmanship plotline with a superficial and sometimes flippant look at the men and women within whose hands we entrust our lives. The four leads are more than adequate in their roles, though the characters portrayed by Blanchett and Jolie (excellent during her brief appearances) are all but forgotten for long stretches at a time. As for rental possibilities, visibility should remain zero.

John Cusack is Nick Falzone, an air traffic controller. Air traffic control is, statistically, the most stressful job in the world, and if you don't believe me; watch Keenan and Kel and see how highly strung Keenan's dad is! However, life is good for Nick; he has a beautiful wife (Cate Blanchett), his friend's think he's great. he's never made a mistake in his job and he holds the 'world record' for the most amount of balls through a basketball net in succession. Great. All that changes, however when the cold Russell Bell turns up at headquarters. Simply put; Bell is better than Falzone. He can hold a lit match for longer, he's better at basketball than Nick, he's a better singer and, worst of all, he has a younger, more beautiful wife (Angelina Jolie, later his wife in real life). Nick Falzone, is not a happy camper.

Pushing Tin is a film about the male ego. The focus of the movie is always on the struggle between Nick and Russell. This is epitomised best in the hilarious sequence in which Nick is driving Russell to a restaurant. He's swerving about all over the road, weaving in and out of traffic, trying to impress Russell; only to look over to find him asleep. Pushing Tin features several moments of rib tickling humour, but also a lot of the more cerebral humour, which you'll either find hilarious or miss. As a comedy, this film works.

John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Angelina Jolie and Cate Blanchett; Pushing Tin features a great cast. They all perform their roles well, too. John Cusack in particular. He's a great actor, he's proved time and time again that he has the ability to carry a film by himself with his charm and good looks, and although he's not on his own here; it is one of his best performances. The characters in Pushing Tin are rather well done, especially as I was expecting this to be a John Cusack vehicle. Aside from being a comedy, the film is also a character study; one which studies the character of a male that has always had everything his way, when he's not getting his way anymore. The story, although comically overblown, does ring true to life of this type of situation. That's where the film draws most of it's humour from; it's the fact that the audience can relate to a lot of the stuff in this film that makes it funny.

Overall, Pushing Tin is a very nice movie. It's finale is overblown, and the film is slightly overlong, but it's also a very funny character study that won't fail to generate a few laughs. I recommend Pushing Tin, it's one of the most underrated movies of 1999.

What I thought to be an entertaining John Cusack film, given his successful late 90's streak, "Pushing Tin" was not.

John Cusack plays a top air traffic controller in a world where one mistake could cost hundreds of lives. His position as alpha dog is unchallenged until Billy Bob enters the game as a newly transferred controller.

That's pretty much all that is going on in the work environment. After this, the film relies heavily on anything but the interesting world of radar and traffic control and focuses on the life outside the work boundaries, touching subjects like family, infidelity, deception and strange ways to see John Cusack's character get bested by Billy Bob's.

I am surprised to see Mike Newell loose form after "Four Wedding and A Funeral" and "Donnie Brasco". The writing was a complete mess and years later I think it's only good for a Sunday afternoon watch where you could do other activities while running the movie in the background.

I saw this movie when it was relatively new in theatres, and I STILL don't know what to make of it.

Is it a comedy? A drama? A character study? An excuse to keep Billy Bob Thornton in the public eye?

I may never be able to figure that out. It's not funny, it's not dramatic, and there's not a single character in this movie that I liked by about halfway through the film. They don't WANT you to like these people. They're petty and childish, and rather than mining the humor in that, they mine the agony.

If you're the Coen Brothers, you're intelligent enough to pull this off. If you're Mike Newell, everyone thinks it's a brilliant art film because they didn't understand it.

Not only do I not understand it, I don't understand Mike Newell and I don't understand who this film was supposed to be speaking to. Certainly not anyone seeking entertainment.

It's difficult to know where to begin. I was looking forward to seeing this film as I think both John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton are both fine actors, also Kate Blanchette is in it so how bad can it be? It reeks. John Cusack plays a macho air-traffic controller for the New York metro area who thinks he's God's gift to pilots. Billy Bob Thornton comes along and out-machos him both in the control-room and on the basket-ball court, and also happens to have the sluttiest wife in the history of cinema. Name the cliches: 1. Billy Bob's zen-like cool as a half-Cree or is it half-Choctaw? both get mentioned - anyway, he wears a feather when he's controlling the planes. 2. Cusack sleeping with aforementioned slut. 3. Major fight in control-room while planes are haplessly flying around out there - very professional, guys. 4. The stupid ending . There's plenty of other garbage which is too numerous to mention.I almost got testosterone-poisoning from all this schlock. I'm amazed these fine actors wanted to be associated with this horrible film.

PUSHING TIN (1999) ***

Starring: John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, and Jake Weber Directed by: Mike Newell Running time: 124 minutes Rated R (for language, and some sexuality/nudity)

By Blake French:

"Pushing Tin" is really nothing more than a very interesting character study that maintains support from its script to succeed. So many movies these days have well-written characters but not the thriving screenplay to back them up. At last, we can enjoy a film with strong comic performances, smart dialogue, and an engaging atmospheric environment.

The film stars John Cusack as a hot shot air traffic controller named Nick Falzone, nicknamed "the zone" because he is truly the best at his profession. He lives in New Jersey with his happy housewife, Connie, and their son. (who is seldom mentioned or seen.) He has an intense, stressful work life, enjoys having fun with his co-workers, and seems to have a pretty optimistic look at life.

All things change, however, when Nick meets his new neighbor, Russell Bell. He's a roughneck motor cycle-driving, quiet and challenging man who really needs to shave. Nick immediately feels tension between Russell and himself. And it just so happens that Russell is also an air traffic controller, making things even more competitive between these two individuals. The two soon begin efforts to try to impress the other, in and outside the job.

The personal battles between Nick and Russell soon put each of them in bed with the opposite's wife. Nick is the first to commit adultery when he falls for Bell's highly attractive young wife, Mary. While he meant well, by taking her out for dinner after observing Mary sobbing at the grocery store, when they got home, things obviously got out of hand.

The movie is very detailed both in the workplace and in its colorful, intriguing characters. The original tasting flavor of being placed in an air traffic control tower is quite captivating. The characters stare at the plane monitors like children at a television screen while playing a video game. The characters themselves are relevant, ordinary people, which is why they are so easy to relate to. Even though some of their personalities and motives are instantly obvious, we still have lots of fun watching their everyday living style

While some comedies would eventually regulate into a formalistic climax and follow predictable events, "Pushing Tin" is too smart for that. The ending is happy and light hearted, but it's most of the fun getting there. Mike Newell, director of "Four Weddings and a Funeral," knows exactly what he wants out of the actors here, and they do exceedingly well at giving what he requires. Each fits their character perfectly, especially Cusack, Jolie, and contributing an Oscar worthy performance, Thornton.

"Pushing Tin" offers a variety of characters and contrasts them effortlessly. In particular, during a just-for-fun basketball game, Nick makes a sudden bet for $100 that Russell can not make a hoop from a certain point in the court. Russell excepts. Nick nervously changes his gamble to fifty cents, but Russell stands firmly on the original amount. He shoots...and misses. "Close enough, Russell," pardons Nick, "Lets call it even." Russell walks over to him manly and states "You either make it or you don't," as he hands Nick the cash promised. The chemistry between these characters is as effective as pouring oil in to water. And that is exactly how it is designed to be.

Brought to you by 20th Century Fox.

John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton along with Angelina Jolie star in this air traffic controller, relational drama that attempts to envelope for the excitement, thrills of intensity of the day to day landing of airplanes along with the strong backstory of the relationships and in this movie the quirky dynamics of interpersonal and marital turmoil. However, the movie is stretch thin with both its conventional as well as its edgy Thornton character. By the end, the movie's mainstream, cute ending seems to dull the independent film character. While a nice decent attempt, Pushing Tin isn't quite as sustained in its entertainment value as Ground Control (1998) with Kiefer Sutherland.

This movie just doesn't deliver. It gets too bogged down all through the middle as Cusack's life comes apart because of his determination to outdo Thornton's character. Also, Thornton's character (although he is the antagonist of the film) is way more interesting than Cusack's character, with whom we get frustrated and just wish he'd get his act together.

The movie does become more amusing towards the end once Cusack finally tries to do something about his sorry state. But too little, too late.

The film also uses the style of super-verite everyone-talk-at-once, which means that you can't hear the lines and it rarely does anything to add to the story. Seemed like the whole first third of the movie was there just to develop the "atmosphere". A number of scenes here and there that don't have any purpose in the story.

The acting's all fine and good, and the NJ/Long Island clothes and decor are fun. I blame the writer, director, and editor for the failure of this flick.

Okay, several parts of this movie were a bit far-fetched; (the wake turbulence from a heavy jet being one of them)but from a technical standpoint I can say that the phraseology, hazing, harassment, and ego trips are very accurate. Why? In a word, pride. Perhaps false pride at times, but pride nonetheless. The U.S. air traffic control system handles more traffic in a single day than any other country does in a week. Check the numbers, kids. It's true. The training is rigorous and relentless, and, at the risk of sounding like a commercial for the Marines, if you happen to be the one out of about a thousand who makes it through training to become a full performance level controller, it becomes a badge of honor. Very few people can do it. It is a close-knit family, which was also displayed in the film. If you'll notice the scene where a particular departure didn't "tag up" and one controller didn't notice it, several others jumped in to help out, and all joking and hazing stopped. Forgive my preaching, but this is the first movie that actually gave a somewhat accurate view of my profession, so hopefully I can be forgiven for being protective. (By the way, if I was married to someone who looked like Angelina Jolie, I'd keep her in the woods away from the slugs I work with, too.)

Despite a promising cast, this movie falls short of being an interesting look into the lives and stressful jobs of air traffic controllers. Cusack stars as Nick Falzone, a top-notch air-traffic controller who has everything going for him. He's got a seemingly great home life, great wife and is able to deal with the stress that comes with his high paying job. Enter Russell Bell, (Thornton), an equally impressive "cool under pressure" controller, who comes to work alongside Nick and the competition begins, at least in Nick's mind. It doesn't help matters either when Nick suddenly sleeps with Russell's wife, who then turns around and confesses all to Russell. Nick's entire life becomes a mess of confusion, fear and paranoia that Russell is out to get him. This movie misses the mark because we, the viewers, are not given any clear reasons as to what motivates these characters. We are supposed to believe that Nick sleeps with Russell's wife either out of pity for her, too much to drink or to prove something over Russell, possibly even all three. Russell's wife (Jolie) is lonely and her plant died, thus her supposed motivation behind the affair. Russell disappears a lot and we are never told why or where to. And although we aren't left with any mystery around whether Russell is really a good guy or staging Nick's paranoia, we are never given any hindsight into why he is the way he is. If you can get past the fact that these characters act completely on impulse regarding every decision they make in their lives, you might enjoy this film. I wanted more.

I was listening to Stephen and Sam from AllMovieTalk.com on their podcast the other day and they were listing their top 6 plane movies. Stephen mentioned this film and, while it is not entirely about planes, it is about air traffic controllers.

John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton are controllers. Cusack is the top dog, and Thornton is the new guy. They don't really get along, and things really get out of control when Cusack sleeps with Thornton's wife - Angelina Jolie.

This is my third encounter with Miss Jolie today. It is her birthday, so I was recalling my favorite Jolie film (The Bone Collector) which came out the same year as this film. It was also the year for Girl, Interrupted, by the way. Anyway, I went to the mailbox this afternoon and there was this month's Esquire with Angelina on the cover, and now I see her her looking a fine as ever. It has been a Jolie day! And who is Cusack cheating on with Angelina? Why, it's Cate Blanchett. Ah, the grass is always greener...

Director Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Donnie Brasco, Four Weddings and a Funeral) did a good job, but most of the credit for the movie goes to Cusack, who did a great job as someone dealing with a life going out of control.

By the way, it is NOT a comedy. I heard it was billed as one, but it is more about what happens when you always try to be top dog and forget what is important in life.

It was a GOOD Angelina day.

The old cliche about crackling feedback on a radio being tuned into a recognisable melody is certainly true here, a film that opens with chaos and confusion, a breathless introductory montage of an air-controlling station, full of incomprehensible computer graphics, strange noisy men going through private rituals, confusing, though clearly important stakes. The film continues in a group vein, which is immensely wearing, as we watch a bunch of 30-somethings bond with their own coded language and gestures. Eventually, though, the film broadens out, becomes more tolerably conventional, as we are introduced to families, adultery, leisure time, Italian restaurants, even wide rugged Colorado spaces - ironically, the film also narrows its focus, as it analyses the inexplicable mythical stand-off between its two leads.

It is remarkable that something as phoney in conception as this can yield some genuine truths. The initial emphasis on the group and male cameraderie invoke Altman and Hawks, but Newell doesn't follow through (two other films it reminded me of, in the controllers' singular speed info-reading, were Herzog's HOW MUCH WOOD CAN A WOODCHUCK CHUCK and STROZZEK, two bitter fables about American capitalism)

The setting up of the initial conflict is too abrupt (some genius annoying you with his motorbike does not justify a life-destroying obsession, although the resulting, immature coffee-spilling overturn is very funny), and the endless reruns of crises in American masculinity, close, as ever, to homoeroticism, is rather wearisome, just as macho as Arnie, but with smarter words.

We are warned in a comic sequence involving schoolkids not to read too much into the metaphor (or is it simile?) of the ivory air-control tower, but it seems less about saving lives than the creation of a mythic space in which the central anxieties are played out. The struggle in the plane cockpit is just about plausible as a sign of Nick's mental breakdown, but the contrivance of the bomb takes the film out of character observation into the improbably fantastic, without the latter really becoming an extension of the former. The whole last third is fairly underwhelming anyway, probably because a film that is fuelled by John Cusack's mental and verbal agility must slow down when he does; the use of wives as extensions of the masculine game, though, seems less forgivable.

In spite of all these worries, I found PUSHING TIN a most enjoyable film. The characterisations are superb, and the initial irritations are revealed to be part of the protective armour these alienated characters wear. Because we believe (more or less) in the central quartet so strongly, in spite of the improbabilities of their relationships, the sadistic plot-twists growing out of character become exhilirating, as we squirm with the exquisite surprise of 'you can't!' inevitability.

The delineation of two madnesses, one hyperactively verbal, the other self-effacingly passive, allows for some great comic stand-offs; the film laughs at their immaturity while making it central to its momentum. Again, after some bogus attempts at atmosphere, the dialogue spits comic truth all over the place, so loose and true it might almost have been improvised, yet so tight and structured it could only have been written by craftsmen. Even icky cheerslike gestures are regularly deflated, undermining the cosier impulses.

Mike Newell is no Alexsei Balabanov, but he is adept at the jarring comic detail and the intricacies of close-knit groups threatened by outsiders, while there are a couple of excellent flourishes, such as our first sight of Nick out of the tower alone, speeding down the highway, anticipated by the whoosh of an aerial shot, a brilliantly ironic, explanatory movement.

Of course, for this kind of character- and dialogue-driven film to work, the acting must be spot on. Billy Bob Thornton reveals all the near-psychotic wearing down of life in a resigned smile, a crazed peace; but this is Cusack's film, as initially irritating and eventually winning as ever; his nervy logorrhea and preposterous macho gestures achieving a charming grace. I was going to take my first terrified flight this summer. Not now.

I like John Cusack and Billy Bob Thorton. Both are fine actors and I've enjoyed their films over the years.

This, however, is a travesty. Easily rates as one of the worst films I ever sat through. It is one of those you keep expecting it to get good and it never does.

The characters were annoying and the plot insipid. Angelina Jolie's character has outright repulsive. In fact, there was even moments were you could tell the actors were desperately trying to make a scene work, but couldn't, because the story was garbage.

Do yourself a favor and skip this one.

Professional rivals destroying vehicles, chatting up each other's wives in the supermarket and driving waitresses crazy when ordering breakfast - the writer must love Tin Men just as much as I do. Apart from these references and brilliant aerial shots there wasn't that much too enjoy though...

The next time I have an emotional breakdown, I think I'll just walk out onto the runway at Calgary airport and stand in front of a 747 while its landing and let the turbulence take me for the ride of my life as it roars past. I'm sure it will solve all my problems! While the scene is admittedly funny, "Pushing Tin" actually expects us to believe that this act provides Nick (John Cusack) with insight that will help him solve the troubles he has got himself into. As if! Perhaps I could accept this act of infantility if the entire movie worked at this comic level, but it doesn't. At one level the film is a serious drama, and at another level, it sinks to complete absurdity.

At first "Pushing Tin" had me. The first scenes with the air traffic controllers at work were intense and had me thinking back to all the times that I have flown on planes and wondering just how close other planes have been. John Cusack is great in these scenes uttering dialogue so quickly that it seems as though he's an auctioneer. However I almost wonder how the pilots are able to understand him. I was also interested in the initial conversations that take place outside the control room in places like coffee shops and pool halls.

Air traffic control is a high stress profession and the anxious atmosphere is caught quite well in the control room. Its no wonder the controllers who work there are cynical and have to resort to seemingly juvenile activities to keep themselves detached. They drink and party a lot, and there are a number of scenes showing Nick driving his car wrecklessly. At first, there are signs of hope that what we are going to see is a gripping film about the chaotic lives of air traffic controllers, but nothing is further from the truth.

Russel (Billy Bob Thornton) soon enters into the picture. His character is quite opposite from that of Nick's. Russel is more relaxed and willing to pile planes close together in order to perform his job more efficiently. Nick refers to him as a "loose cannon". Film-makers seem to love pitting opposites against one another.

Russel's character is seriously under drawn. Where does he come from? What aspects make up his detached and strange personality? No attempts are made to answer these questions We are given the names of a few places where he has been an air-traffic controller and that is all. He is a mysterious entity that seems to pop into the film from nowhere.

One night while Nick is in the supermarket, he runs into Russel's wife Mary (Angelina Jolie) whose character we also wonder about, but we are never given any insight. She is in tears and naturally Nick wants to comfort her. He takes her out to dinner at the restaurant that he and his wife Connie (Cate Blanchett) usually go to. From here on in, the story fills itself with absurdities beyond belief and plot holes big enough to drive a truck through them. The whole movie goes down hill so quickly that there should be a plane crash at some point just to show that the film has hit rock bottom.

It isn't long before Nick realizes that his life is hell. He can't even concentrate on work. Who does he turn to? None other than Russel who he some how finds fishing in Colorado. "Jump in the river", Russel commands. "Do you really want to solve your problems, let's go," Russel says. "You'll wish that you jumped in the river". From here the film works its way into the most absurd ending I have ever seen. Once I realized how everything was going to turn out, I just wanted to get up and walk out, and this was only about five minutes before the credits started rolling. Rarely do films ever anger me, but this ending was just so ludicrous, I could not help myself.

*1/2 out of ****

At first glance, this movie is one big romp. A real scream - Billy Bob Thornton is one of those guys who can be hilarious (and kinda scare you at the same time) without ever opening his mouth. His eyes are silent movies. John Cusack is funny in a cute, desperate sort of way that makes you totally relate to what he's feeling. Cate Blanchett amuses us yet again with her chameleon-like ability to completely become a character you've never seen her as before, complete with appropriate accent, effortlessly carried.

Watch it a second time, though, and you'll realize that this movie portrays how completely a person can screw up their own life by the attitudes they decide to adopt, and the way they react to the people around them. Cusack's character, "The Zone" Falzone, would like to think that his life is falling apart because of the new guy at work, but in reality every problem he's got is his own damn fault... a good lesson for all of us to chew on.

Interesting note: The guy who plays Cusack's work buddy is currently starring as Patricia Arquette's husband on the TV series "Medium". He's very cute, now that he's lost the 80's "stache" and grown his hair out. He kinda reminds me of Steve Perry, with lighter hair. Not a bad thing.

As always, the presence of Angelina Jolie in a movie adds a whole lot of sexual tension, and a little bit of insanity. I love, love, love her. I want to bite her lips off, chew them, and blow bubbles. I'm pretty sure they're strawberry flavored.

• Elysia

Air traffic control isn't so much the subject matter of this film as a metaphor for the life of its main protagonist (ably portrayed by John Cusack) which slowly begins to crumble when a new controller (Billy Bob Thornton) threatens his status as kingpin of the control centre. As such, the film might not quite be what you'd expect, and can't seem to decide whether it's a comedy or a drama while strangely never seeming to be a combination of the two.

Air traffic control is apparently one of the most stressful jobs around and, as such, you'd think there'd be a rich seam worth mining, but I can't recall many – if any – other films that use it as the core of their story. I suppose the makers should be given credit for delivering a different setting for their tale, but they really should have worked harder on the character development than they do here. Cusack's character arc is so predictable it's practically a straight line from point A to point B while Thornton isn't really given any character beyond mysterious stranger – with an occasional touch of the mystical thrown in – of few words. This predictability – and the impossibility of getting under the skin of any other character than Cusack's (whose methods of expressing his insecurities, it has to be said, make him difficult to like) – make the film something of a long haul.

People seem to have a love/hate relationship with this film, and it's safe to say that I'm in the latter category.

Pushing Tin is a thoroughly abysmal comedy that squanders its cast of brilliant actors. The story is so pointless and boring that I find I care nothing for any of the characters, which to me is suicide for the movie.

The entire premise seems to be how "hardcore" these two guys can be, and the neverending testosterone struggle between the two to constantly one-up the other guy. Various shots of Cusack running around the flight tower, guiding planes in and making them make all kinds of sudden, unsafe dives, etc. is supposed to leave us rolling on the floor, but instead he comes off as cold and uncaring about the people on the plane who could easily die as a result of his stupidity and is mostly annoying.

Another "hardcore" scene involves Billy Bob Thornton standing on the runway just behind where huge jets are landing. The powerful rush of air that hits the asphalt as the plane comes in throws Thornton through the air like a leaf in a tornado, and the next scene we see is of Thornton's face with a big post-coital smile on it. Stupid and ineffective. A complete waste of great acting talent.

Angelina Jolie appears for a total of about 10 minutes and has about 6 lines in the whole movie.

In summation, this movie should never have been made. It's a complete waste of space. One of the few (but increasing number, lately) that I either turn off halfway through or fall asleep during.