Pushing Tin Details

This uneven but fascinating comedy drama from Four Weddings and a Funeral director Mike Newell takes a look at the lives of the air-traffic controllers who guide planes in and out of New York's airspace. It focuses on two in particular — super-cool Nick Falzone (John Cusack) and the Zen-like Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton), who challenges Cusack's claim to be the best controller in town. It's not only Cusack's ego that is bruised by his rivalry with Thornton; their wives (Cate Blanchett and Angelina Jolie) get caught in the crossfire. It may be overly dramatic in places, but it boasts superb performances from Thornton (playing a character so calm and laid-back, he's stood in the turbulent wake of a 747 just to see what it feels like) and Cusack, and contains more behind-the-scenes information than you ever wanted to know.

Often engrossing social comedy set in a fascinating environment, with two men giving each other, and their wives, a bumpy ride; unfortunately it crash-lands half-an-hour before it ends.