Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It felt like 8 hours and honestly I feel really stupid that I didn't walk out of the theater. I wish I could have that 2 hours of my life back as this has to be the worst major motion picture ever made. Save yourself as I would rather chew on tin foil in a cold shower then have to sit through this horrible movie again. There is nothing redeeming I can say about this movie, not even Angelina Jolie looking hot. I can't come up with one reason to watch this movie. The troops in Gitmo should show this movie to inmates but I am 100% confident it would be against the Geneva convention as it would undoubtedly be considered torture to have to sit through this movie.

What the hell? Someone thought that THIS passed for a plot? I swear, NOTHING happens in "Pushing Tin". The entire movie is little more than two hours of people talking about disjointed topics. The movie isn't even so bad that it's good; it's just bad. John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett and Angelina Jolie are completely wasted. How on earth could director Mike Newell go from something as good as "Donnie Brasco" to this? At least he went on to direct "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire".Look, there are lots of good movies out there. The very same year in which "Pushing Tin" came out, John Cusack also starred in "Being John Malkovich" and "Cradle will Rock", while Cate Blanchett starred in "The Talented Mr. Ripley". This one, however, is NOT worth your time.

John Cusack stars as Nick 'the zone' Falzone, an air traffic controller who orchestrates thousands of safe plane landings every year . The flame of his marriage dimmed out a little throughout the years but basically he's got all his ducks in a row, having mastered his job and being the undisputed king of his workplace. A series of opening-scenes document Nick as a popular jester and a charming womanizer. Confidence, popularity and fulfillment are the keywords. He's always been the pilot of his life, skilfully steering it away from near-crashes or even turbulence, however it goes into a tailspin when new colleague Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton) joins his work group. Their rivalry drives both men to the edge of lunacy, they strain every nerve to annoy each other and what starts out as innocent taunting turns into mean-spirited attacks. When Nick sleeps with Russell's wife(a seductive turn by Angelina Jolie) both marriages threaten to fall apart and Nick's fear of reprisal combined with the high stress factor of his profession - uneasy lies the head that wears the crown - start to prevent him from competently executing his job and lives hang in the balance...The setting's well-chosen for the mind games, it's conceivable that battles for the alpha-male position take place in stressful, highly competitive work environments, in this case air traffic control, where the air is loaded with more testosterone and adrenaline than among firemen or wall street traders. Anti-stress devices and methods grace the screen abundantly, from biceps-training hand pumps and stress relieving squeeze balls to zany ailments such as letting a landing plane overhead; the turbulence causing one to spin right off the ground into a sort of whirl motion (making for one of the movie's best scenes). A couple of problems stare you right in the face, first of all the rivalry between Cusack and Thornton never takes a sufficiently interesting form. Sure, the relationship isn't completely frictionless but it's hard to believe Cusack ever threatened Thornton's masculinity, whereas it more or less works the other way around. Cusack being his usual smooth-talking charmer seems harmless, and when Tornton admits near the end of the movie he loathed Cusack's character to such degree he scared himself, literally wanting to kill his rival, I didn't believe him for one second.With 2 hours runtime, the film still appears too short to be able to work out all plot lines, the marriage issues subplot never reaches takeoff speed which causes the ending to fall totally flat. If one can turn a blind eye to the less than satisfying resolution, you'll find plenty of subtle comedy treats along the way. 'Pushing Tin' isn't the kind of comedy one can enjoy watching with one eye on the screen whilst doing something else. The fun usually lies in half-sentence jokes, looks between characters and charming one-liners you need to prick up your ears for to catch all subtleties. The sharp dialog ("If you ever want to sleep at night, don't marry a beautiful girl. ") and the cast's performance gives this lukewarm rom-com an edge over it's peers.

This movie took a bit too much license with the lives of air traffic controllers. While the stresses of the job were well emphasized, the side plots were sophomoric. The main character, played by John Cusack, was too immature. He spent all his time goofing off and showing off. Probably not likely to survive very long in the real career. The relationship between he and his wife (Blanchett) was sappy. They were supposed to have two kids, one of them on Ritalin, but they were shown only briefly in one scene. The ending was just plain schmaltzy.There were a few things I liked about the movie. One guy makes a mistake, and two planes barely miss each other. One controller openly mocks and insults him. Obviously, the poor guy never established clout. However, Cusack's character has clout, because he knows how to schmooze. When he messes up, the other controllers are more empathetic. That's true in "real life". Much of success in any career is establishing clout among your co-workers. Aside from that, the movie was not very enlightening.