Nothing in Common (1986)

Image courtesy of IMDB.com

Here we have another Hanks film we've never seen before, or even heard of! Nothing in Common stars Hanks alongside the legendary Jackie Gleason, who plays his skirt-chasing, self-destructive father. Gleason, it turns out, was actually severely ill with colon and liver cancer during the filming of this movie, and admitted to his daughter that he didn't think he had much time to live. This was his last film before passing away in 1987. And it wasn't a bad one to go out on. This was definitely more of a drama than a comedy, and dealt a lot with father/son relationships, honesty, love, and redemption.

Image courtesy of IMDB.com

Since we do a goofy pairing with our Hanks movies, we chose to have a couple things that literally have nothing in common; Banh Mi sandwiches and Mint Juleps.

So, let's get down to it. Nothing in Common stars Hanks as David Basner, a young hot-shot in the advertising world who's presumably on his way up in the company. His life gets derailed when he finds out his parents are splitting up. Gleason, playing Max Basner, calls his son to tell him the news and doesn't exactly grasp why his wife of 30+ years suddenly decided to leave. As the story unfolds, David is struggling to find a balance between taking care of his dad, dealing with his mom, trying to nail a big ad campaign that will make or break his career, and nailing the boss's daughter, the movie seemed to skew quite a bit and break off into 3 or more plot lines. It was a bit scattered, a bit disjointed, but came together quite beautifully in the end.

It's revealed that David's mom, played by Eva Marie Saint, left because Max never really cared about her. He never talked, he never listened, she was completely unloved and unappreciated. And the bastard had been cheating on her for years. We get to see her rebuild her life. At one point, Max is terribly ill and in the hospital - I was afraid they were going to do mom dirty and make her go back to him to be his nursemaid. But thankfully they didn't! She walked away and washed her hands of it all. Is it weird to be proud of a character? Because I was proud of her! David and Max work out their issues, David finds love, and they all live happily every after.