i must have seen a different film!!

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Jackie Gleason and Tom Hanks: two very gifted actors in a movie that runs all over the road. "Nothing in Common" opens up with Hanks at maximum likability, his successful ad executive riding in on cocky youthful charm. His relationship with his coworkers is the stuff of dreams (or fiction), and he makes the job look fun. Which gives no indication as to just how no-nonsense this story will get. He's playing an only child who has to deal with his parents' sudden separation and father's failing health. In short, he brings his dramatic A-game (especially notable for being so early in his serious actor career). Gleason, for his part, is playing a character that's not all that easy to stomach (sometimes even hateful), but it's one hell of a performance. This movie is all about their struggling relationship, and both men make it work. It's the tone that's inconsistent; sometimes light, sometimes serious, with an ending that feels sugarcoated. The comedy feels at odds with the darker material.

Jackie Gleason, in his final film role, plays the icy, stonewalling father of a hyperactive, professional Tom Hanks. There's a good message at the core of this one, about the impenetrable veneer expected of men from his generation and the dire effects it bore on those around him. Hanks, a smooth-talking corporate '80s ad exec, and Gleason, a foot-to-pavement salesman struggling to deal with the end of his career, manage well with the heavy stuff while occasionally injecting a few welcome dashes of humor and sarcasm to the mix. The film is flawed, though, in its unbridled lack of restraint. Every last supporting character hints at a big, convoluted back story and many of them are halfheartedly explored. That diverts attention away from the key players and leaves us with what seems like one big, fuzzy, unfocused batch of incomplete or unfulfilling arcs. There's simply too much to keep track of, and too much time wasted with characters we don't care about. Noteworthy as the stage where Hanks showed he could be more than just a comic player, but otherwise it's too overstuffed and vague to recommend.

This is a great movie. It combines several emotional aspects of the human condition. Classic Tom Hanks humor, emotionally touching realism as well as some serious drama.Over the years since it was released I have watched this dozen's of times. I never get tired of it. I am moved as David Basner is forced to face the reality of his parents divorce and tries to build an individual relationship with each of his parents.I think this is much better than Splash, probably on par with BIG. Of course, just about anything with Tom Hanks is great simply because he is able to carry the load.

This movie had every reason in the world to be a major hit. I, for one, was extremely disappointed. The main problem is that is was difficult for me to like either character. Max (Gleason) was just a mean, nasty old goat, and David (Hanks) was so obnoxious and self-absorbed it was unreal. And this business of him being such a major stud, (First he beds down a stewardess he meets, then later while he's working on the airline account, he manages to nail the owner's daughter, played by Sela Ward.) I'm sorry, I just ain't buyin' it. The only likable one in the film is the mother (Eva Marie Saint), but she appears only sporadically, and she isn't the focus of the plot. I eventually became a Tom Hanks fan after films like "Philadelphia" and "Forrest Gump," but for several years I was leery of anything with him in it, because of this film.