Tin Men (1987)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written and Directed by Barry Levinson
Original Songs & Music by The Fine Young Cannibals
Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Danny DeVito, Barbara Hershey, John Mahoney, Jackie Gayle, Stanley Brock, Seymour Cassel, Bruno Kirby, and J.T. Walsh

Features:

• A deleted scene introduced by writer/director Levinson
  
• Running audio commentary with Levinson, producer Mark Johnson, costume designer Gloria Gresham and actors Dreyfuss, Hershey, Kirby, Cassel and Mahoney
  

My Advice: Rent it

Ernest Tilley (DeVito) is an aluminum-siding salesman who is going through a bit of a slump. He just can't seem to get a break and none of his usual sales scams seem to be working. He's also not very happy at home. His wife (Hershey) seems to be nagging him all the time. To make matters even worse, he's just been in a car accident with another aluminum-siding salesman named Bill Babowsky (Dreyfuss) who was pulling his brand new Caddy off of the car lot at the time of the accident. Neither of the men will admit the fault of the accident, so they begin a very childish game of, "Oh yeah, well, I'll get him!" Babowsky winds up sleeping with Tilley's wife in order to get back with him, but it turns out the Tilley is not all that upset about it.

This movie could have been better if just one of the characters involved in the story had at least a single redeeming quality about them. Since none of them do, there is no reason to care about any of the stuff that goes on between them. Dreyfuss is over the top and DeVito feels like he's doing everything he can to hold onto this movie and not get left behind. Hershey is completely wasted in her role as DeVito's wife and, what's more, it's just not believable that they are a married couple. The plot lurches from one act of vindictive revenge to another without any real direction and then comes to a screeching halt that (I guess) is supposed to be an ending. There is no doubt the cast and crew had fun making the movie, but that's also the problem. They spent too much time having fun with one another and apparently didn't stop to think about how much fun their audience might (or might not) be having.

And...the DVD is weird. When you have a single deleted scene from the movie listed as special feature, it's just not a good sign. This single deleted scene is introduced by Levinson, but even without the introduction it becomes instantly obvious why the scene was cut. Leaving it in would have made DeVito's character cross the line from mildly disgusting to complete asshole. The only other feature on the disc is a commentary track with enough people on it to give Cecil B. DeMille the delirium tremens. Seriously, there are just too many people on this track. Not only that, but they were not all recorded at the same time. Bruno Kirby introduces the track and also introduces the new speaker every time a new one is brought into the edit. But still, there's just too many people crowding the thing. I would have much rather they had done perhaps two tracks, one with the crew and one with the actors. They get full marks for their effort with this one, but I certainly found myself wondering what everyone else was saying when they weren't the focus of the track--more space equals more room for comments.

So, this one stays a rental. If you are a fan of anyone in the movie, you'll want to see it at least once.