Continuing Bingo’s theme of “hammer party” being used by his oh-so-clever clique of ‘varsity-educated chums to describe movies with an exceptionally dislikeable lead, I thought there may be a few clicks in it as a thread, especially if I add “Afterword” to the title, which is, like, like catnip.
I’ll get this ball rollin’ with perhaps an unusual, even shocking (!) suggestion: Tom Hanks.
Seeing his doughy performance recently in Bridge Of Pies – wupes, Spies – reminded me how he only takes roles that will make him seem a likeable and honourable man. To make this really obvious in this movie, we see him warming to a Russkie spy. We can’t actually like the spy himself, that would detract from Mr Hank’s role as “like magnet”, so he’s presented as a pencil-neck, speccy geek with a funny (Scots) accent. But we like Hanks more because he finds something to like in the spy. We admire his ability to find something to admire in the man he has to defend.
This is a movie that would have been improved immeasurably by having Hanks die messily in a hammer party, rather than traveling home to his perfect American Values home and » Continue Reading.