Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Comedy is seric 'Punchli characte By STEPHEN GUILFOYLE Editor in chief The big joke of the new movie Punchline is that it isn't really a comedy. It is funny, but when you get right down to it, it's intended to be a serious movie about a lot of funny people. It tries to be a drama about the lives of stand-up comics. Tom Hanks stars as Steve Gold, considered by all the comedians at the Gas Station comedy club to be a rising star. He's also a failed medical student with a whole lot of rage and anxiety in him because he never wanted to be a doctor, his father wanted him to be a doctor. And yet he manages to stay in medical school for a while because he has what he considers the essential asset for a doctor ? compassion ? a compassion that is hidden behind all his rage and many hangups. Gold is the perfect comic, unable to resist any chance to tell a joke to someone. He stands at bus stops and entertains people before the bus comes. He stands in front of the club and entertains the patrons in line. The other "main character" is Sally Field, starring as Lilah Krystick, a New Jersey housewife who can do three things ? she can be a wife, a mother and she can make people laugh. The first two are fulfilled >w< I AlexSu ms business ne' presents rs in Hanks i'-Reviewidesires, but she wants to make lots of people laugh, so she heads to the Gas Station for an attempt at the bigtime. Krystick is kind of funny, but has no spontaneity, so she tries to get Gold to teach her about comedy. He's wound up so tight that it takes a while, but eventually, he agrees. Gold feels that Krystick is funny, but she needs to learn how to work a room, to use the audience and develop spontaneity. So he takes her to a "gig" to show her how he does it. It's a hospital, and it's one of the few times in the movie where the heart of gold inside Gold comes out. He entertains the patients, trying to make them feel a little bit better, and he works the room to perfection and spontaneity. One man is in a cast with his arm raised up. Gold says, "You sir, do you have a question? Your hand has been up the whole time." He later takes Krystick to a nightclub, away from her prepared jokes and forces her to improvise. She stumbles at the beginning, but she gets into it and the jokes roll and roll and roll. Enter the conflict. Some things don't work. Lilah suddenly becomes LL\wt w ^ JL TT! itir Ed< the last x.ri-r | I r IB-" "MR ^ '' /^7 ^ ? ~ " 1 B ^iw^H ' - /^B M/7* * - ^b tali # xp ^^B: ;: Hfe* I SH-JM&. i 1H I <- iXxxxx^^^^K^^'tx : JfjjM 7 O i^Hk H m -University of Was > likeable and Field great when she's forced by Gold to improvise. Gold falls in love with Lilah. Lilah almost falls in love with Gold, but she really loves her husband, played well by John Goodman oi true stories an a Raising Arizona, who can be a bit of a jerk but is basically a nice guy. Hanks is great as Gold. He is a naturally funny guy anyway, so it wasn't hard to pick him to play a stand-up comic. He tries to add a little insanity, a little anger, a little hysteria to Gold's characterization, and it works. Hank's acting range, though, is shown far better in Big and Nothing in Common. Fields is convincing as the housewife and the mother. But as a standup, she is neither convincing nor totally off. She is bland in this part. The jokes she has by the end of the film are funny, but her delivery is not up to the level of other stand-up comics or even Hanks. It's a really funny movie, most of the dramatic parts basically succeed, though not with any flourish. The problem with this movie, maybe, is it tries to do too much. It tries to be a serious movie about funny people, but then it adds in certain comic scenes that have nothing to do with the comedy club. It tries to touch our emotions, but the only thing it does perfectly is touch our funnybones, which isn't all that bad, though. asrit rubbing i-Ijustwant lie to know score of : night's gamt KC ?" i ' . A Ikk BH| "V/ Wm \ HP Wmsm v> | , i' , - -?4fM SB* sy '- ' ' >W'% iZv^- $ifr I 99K '" Jf }pM0* ^ - ' H imMB M #||B lHHf? 53 C-J i ;; f ^ la|i> H^ft?P^ ^^yjrj K .gjn^H * ^ 4**^rj Tom Hanks and Sally Field star in the comic movie 'Pi comedy. r ed a 1101 I Go ahead and gloat. You cai rub it in all the way to Chicago with AT&T Long Distance Service Besides, your best friend Eddie was the one who said your team could never win three straight. So sive him a call. It costs a !u lot less than you think to let him know who's headed for the Playo Reach out and touch someone.? If youd like to know more about AT&T products and services, like International Calling and the KTS Card, call us at 1 800 222-0300. AKT ^ The right choice. IjiH ^2Pik flP *^fPs33P%j| IP^L* IPil TBI^r \ji0Kr4m %Jt^m: >f$r ?. J3 unchline.' The film presents a view of the serious side of mlmm* v ^is9 k - ?d?l Robbie Benson Benson Continued from page 4 South Carolina, Benson sarid his dealings with them had been average, but television and radio seemed to be warmer than newspapers. Benson did say he had had run-ins with The State newspaper. "A reporter from The State came to do an article on my class auditions which ran from 3 p.m. to 1:10a.m.," Benson said. However, the reporter, in order to meet her deadline, stated in her story that the auditions ended at 6 p.m. Benson said he knew the reporter didn't lie intentionally, but the error implied that members for his class were hastily chosen. "What are you really reading?" Benson asked. "Do you know it's the truth?" He answered "No." Benson then warned the audience of the responsibility they had to report the truth. Benson also disagreed with the article in The State describing USC's loss to Georgia Tech. The.use of the word "shame" was unnecessary, Benson said, and should have been replaced with "disappointment." He went on to say that maybe one of the reasons for the steroid controversy is * because of the enormous pressure for the football team to succeed, and the use of "shame" is an example of this pressure. When asked about his opinion of The Gamecock writers, Benson said he respected Stephen Guilfoyle's work, despite a misunderstanding with him earlier this y??r. Benson's latest movie, croc/c in the Mirror,. which he describes as an cc? "ugly, horrible, cold movie," should be out in five to six months. ^ THE GAMECOCK THE GAMECOCK is the student newspaper of the University of South Carolina and is published three times a week on monaays, Wednesdays and Fridays during the fall and spring semesters and weekly on Wednesdays during both summer sessions, with the exception of university holidays and examination periods. Opinions expressed in THE GAMECOCK are those of the editors and not those of the University of South Carolina. The Board of Student Publications and Communications is the publisher of THE GAMECOCK. The Student Media Department is the parent organization of THE GAMECOCK. Change of address forms, subscription requests and other correspondence should be sent to THE GAMECOCK, Box 85131, University of South. Carolina, Columbia, S.C. 29208. Subscription rates are $18.00 for (1) year, $10.00 per fall or spring semester and $4.00 for both summer sessions. Third class postage paid at Columbia, S.C. THE GAMECOCK is a licensed student organization of the University of South Carolina and receives funding from student activity fees.