the audience applauded

Sadly Over-hyped

i must have seen a different film!!

As Good As It Gets

While Hays has certainly done better films, during his heyday (no pun), this one stands at about a C+. Perhaps 'Airplane' was one of his top, better ones, but heck -every actor has the right to "step down" into a smaller venue. He still pulls his own here. Okay - so Hershey isn't standing firm in a strong, fem role this time. But she also holds her own. And she's allotted moments where her true talent as an actress, comes out. That's the beauty of loving Hershey. Even in a very supportive role, she still paves her own.For the most part - this film high-fives the typical, old-day blue-collar, Midwestern, parody; which for its time, was much appreciated. Just another example of the typical condescending, stuff-shirted Corp. puff attitudes. Here, David Keith (Harry) brilliantly portrays; alongside costar Thomerson (Ray), a feast-or-famine challenge. The game is on: workplace upgrades, threats of buy-out and the mgmt. changes - none of it for the better. Harry and Ray pull together, retaining the 'working man' dignity - and bravely shoot against the grain. Their portrayal is another example of the "worker" daring to confront the "big boys"; a common post blue-collared-ghetto movement of the time.In the end (very decently directed, and out-laid) Hays (Macklin) wises up, realizing he; and his commadarie, were nearly side-lined by the very honchos who pretended to have his back.

Good ol' boy comedy-drama about the corporate buyout of an Iowa brewery and its effects on the employees and townspeople certainly had the opportunity to comedically explore greed and position in big business. Unfortunately, this movie-version of the hit song by Johnny PayCheck isn't at all the trenchant satire the opening moments hint it might be; instead, director Gus Trikonis (of all people) settles for redneck clichés and easy stabs at pathos (such as the veteran bottler who is transferred--one might say promoted--to distribution, but asks to return because he can't read). Robert Hays is the small-town boy who made good, returning to his roots to overhaul the brewery and act as hatchet-man; Tim Thomerson (way over-the-top) and David Keith are his boyhood pals who earn their living at the plant, while Barbara Hershey floats in and out of the movie as a former squeeze (she ends up making love with Hays after a mud fight, still caked in dirt). Some of the dialogue in Barry Schneider's exceedingly-thin screenplay has a little kick, but Trikonis in general is not good with actors: he keeps everybody shouting, even when the machines are turned off. *1/2 from ****

I don't know why I like this film. It might have to do with the fact that when I was a young kid I was in love with monster trucks. The sight of all that destruction was exactly what my 9 year old brain needed. This is a pretty terrible movie as it turns out, but it was fun at the time. Oh well, a guilty pleasure for me anyhow.

Witless film that doesn't live up to its title about tensions between labor and management. An embarrassing film for folks like Hershey, who went on to bigger and more respectable territory.