I love this movie so much

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

I wanted to but couldn't!

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

David (Tom Hanks) has everything he could ever want in life! Fame, fortune, success, you name it. His life takes a chaotic turn when he finds out his parents have split up. I'm a big fan of Tom Hanks. The man can usually do no wrong, but this movie was a bit of a misfire. It tries to balance serious situations with awkward comedy, but it doesn't mesh together very well. The performances aren't the problem. Tom Hanks is absolutely great as he usually is, I didn't find his character very sympathetic though. Jackie Gleason & Eva Marie Saint are solid as the parents, but not easy to like either. Another problem I had with this movie is the poor pacing issues. This movie runs longer than it should for such a dull affair. I didn't hate this movie, but it was a rather mundane experience. Hanks fans might wanna give it a look, but I can't say there is much to look forward to. 5/10

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.

The film begins with a barrage of wit from Tom Hanks as an adman whose business is creativity. And indeed why should he not be witty? But then we meet his father, who is on his way to dying the death of a salesman, and his father is just as brilliantly witty. The lines just aren't lines that ordinary people could come up with. Everyone is a little too quick with the comedy, and when the comedy pauses, everyone is a little too quick to come up with the deep but gracefully phrased emotional revelations. And yet the movie is long; though most of the large cast of characters is quite undeveloped, still the script has a mighty load of relationships: Hanks with his father, Hanks with his mother (not so much), Hanks with two different girlfriends, the father with the mother, Hanks with his boss, and Hanks with the big client. The big client is perhaps the worst: the stereotype of the big blowhard who is charmed when you call him a big blowhard to his face.I think there were two movies here: the one about the workplace, with a little subplot about the father; and the one about the father, with a little subplot about the workplace. I suspect, with no huge evidence, that someone had an emotional investment in not leaving material out. Some of the details have the ring of autobiography.Several big talents appear in the movie: not only Jackie Gleason, Tom Hanks, and Eva Marie Saint but also Hector Elizondo and, in a tiny role, Dan Castellaneta. Nobody does anything here that he hasn't done better elsewhere, but still it's good to see them all.