A moderately hard-edged drama about the private and public lives of comedians, with a special emphasis on the desperate lengths they'll go to for a laugh, or to get an edge on the competition. Sally Field is the focal figure, a mousey housewife who feels destined for greatness but can't locate her own voice, while Tom Hanks plays a big supporting role as a natural performer who's an irresponsible, selfish a-hole behind the scenes. It's an uneven picture that doesn't really click for a number of different reasons. Primary among them is this unspoken sense that a movie about comedians should be funny. Though the on-stage segments are indeed quite flat, big punchlines (if you'll forgive the pun) aren't really the point of this story. Less forgivable is the awkward, cloudy relationship between Hanks and Field that dominates the plot, and the constant shifts in tone from one scene to the next. I never got a real handle on where the film was going, what it wanted to be or to say. That writing jokes is hard, I guess? Sometimes the happiest guy in the spotlight is actually a poisonous, miserable bastard? A complicated, tentative take that's puzzling in its lack of a firm identity.

Memorable.....but bad memories outweigh good, at least for me, with this movie.

That's my recollection of this film which, frankly, I haven't seen in over a decade. However, this movie left some indelible impressions in my sensitive memory, and perhaps I'll re-visit it again one day.

Tom Hanks was mesmerizing as the haunted comedian, a man with a lot of talent to make people laugh but a guy tormented by the lack of support from his father. There is a scene or two in here with this dad that is so uncomfortable to watch that it has prevented me from seeing this another time.

Too bad, because I do remember some wonderful, funny scenes such as Hanks in the hospital entertaining the patients. Sally Field also gives a touching performance as a housewife trying to break into the business, and John Goodman is likable as her husband.

An interesting film with very emotional scenes you won't forget. It's almost too much for me, for some reason.

Lilah Krytsick (Sally Field) is a middle age New Jersey housewife struggling to do stand-up comedy. Her marriage to husband John (John Goodman) is under stress. Med student Steven Gold (Tom Hanks) is late for his oral exam and gets expelled for cheating on his written exam. He's been spending all his nights doing stand-up. Madeline Urie (Kim Greist) is a talent agent. Romeo is the club owner.

Tom Hanks is no stand-up comic. He's playing one but he's not actually one. It's the difference between getting real laughs and getting extras to laugh on cue. There's a reason why crashing and burning in front of his father is his best set in the movie. On the other hand, Sally Field is great and fits well especially as a bad comic in the beginning. Her life is much funnier than her 'good' jokes. It's also very bittersweet. Luckily, this is her movie more than his. Real comics inevitably complain about the lockers which is beside the point. It's like complaining about the big apartment in Friends. I do like the aborted romance and the conflicted family life. Instead of Hanks, this movie needs a real comic who could sell the stand-up and then hope that the acting will follow. It's a tall order.