Britwebber I finally got around to watching this movie on Netflix last night and was pleasantly surprised. I am a Tom Hanks fan and usually love all of his works but of course he's had a few that wasn't what I'd call spectacular acting or anything.But I watched Nothing in Common last night and really loved it. I wouldn't say it was his best, nor would it be one of my favorite movies, but I'd certainly watch it again. I thought every one did a great job and the characters were done very well. The storyline was great, it's such a common theme in today's world. I know many couples who got divorced in their 50's and 60's after many years of marriage and it does take a toll on the whole family. "Kids" who are now in their 30's often take for granted their parents are still together and don't even pay attention to the fact that things could not be going so smoothly. Anyways, it's a modern day theme still today and I thought the emotions shown in this movie were spot on.The only complaint I have was the cheesy '80's music that would start playing during a pivotal moment and I felt it sort of "ruined" it but I was able to get past that and realize what a fantastic movie this was. Definitely an important moment in Tom Hank's career that, I think, is often by passed.

Lee Eisenberg ...and I don't think that I needed to. What I saw went nowhere. If "Nothing in Common" was supposed to be a jab at the corporate world, then it didn't work. If it was supposed to be a look at relationships, then it didn't work. If I had seen this when it first came out, then I would have thought it unfathomable that Tom Hanks would ever win even one Oscar, much less back-to-back Oscars. How could Garry Marshall, having created something so great with "Happy Days", create something so idiotic with "Nothing in Common"? As for Jackie Gleason, I heard that "The Honeymooners" was actually a rather cruel show, so it's not really any surprise that his role here is a piece of drudgery. And how could a magnificent actress like Eva Marie Saint get herself mixed up in this crap? The only reason that I stopped short of giving this movie just one star was the presence of Tom Hanks and Eva Marie Saint (plus Hector Elizondo), who can make almost any movie seem really good. But even here they have trouble doing that.Oh, and in case Eva Marie Saint is reading this: Happy Birthday, Eva! You were one of my grandfather's favorite customers in Superdrugs down in Los Angeles!

Mike Russell 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.

FRDuplantier Sometimes it takes a great shock to remind us what our priorities should be. We may take offense at the suggestion that our ambitions, our lusts, and our greed are more important to us than the health and safety and happiness of our loved ones, but how often do we find ourselves acting as though they are? Sometimes the shock occurs in time for us to rearrange our priorities. Sometimes it comes too late, and we can only regret our foolishness.Garry Marshall's Nothing in Common concerns just such a shock. After 34 years of marriage, Lorraine Basner (Eva Marie Saint) leaves her husband Max (Jackie Gleason) because she can no longer tolerate his oppressive silence. Over the course of three decades he has treated her at best as a roommate, at worst as a handservant. Their marriage is barren, devoid of affection and intimacy. Aside from their son David, they have nothing in common anymore.Max is devastated by his wife's departure, and too proud to admit it. He would like nothing better than for her to return, but he is unwilling -- perhaps unable -- to protest his love. The shock has come too late for Max and Lorraine, and the blame belongs to both of them. Max has indeed treated his wife shamefully, but she in turn has put up with it. Thirty-four years is a long time to wait before lodging a serious complaint.The shock has come just in time for David Basner (Tom Hanks), the clever young adman always ready with a line -- for a client, for a girl. He lives a life of constant change, moving blithely from one presentation or seduction to the next, putting together a reel of 60-second commercials and 90-minute relationships as he goes. In his preoccupation with the surfeit of choices in his smorgasbord life, he has denied himself the opportunity to get to know his parents as people and deprived them of the one thing they still have in common, their son. The shock of their separation reminds him that he is neglecting his responsibility to his parents; the discovery that his father will require life-threatening surgery gives added urgency to his renewed interest in their lives.The shock also gives him pause to reflect on the shape of his own life, to recognize that he has nothing in common with the sleeping partners he picks out like actresses at a cattle call and that the childhood sweetheart with whom he can identify may not be available forever.Nothing in Common is an adult movie in the true sense of the term. It offers a mature treatment of a subject of extreme importance to adults in a country racked by divorce. It does not resort to nudity, coarse language, or superficial sociological dialogue. It presents the breakup of a marriage as an unmitigated tragedy, not as a grand opportunity for the exploration of narcissism (as is the case with such shallow contemporary films as An Unmarried Woman). It resolutely rejects the irresponsible and amoral lifestyle celebrated in so much of modern culture, and it encourages us to do likewise, by giving us an honest picture of it. Nothing in Common is an adult movie with a PG rating, a fine cast of characters, a skillful director, and an important story to tell.