Pie in the Sky

I liked this film- I saw it to catch a bit player Larry Holden - but Charles and Heche make this a passable romantic movie. It was just offbeat enough- romance between a sky jockey and a modern dancer to be appealing... and the side bar- the lusty landlady added to the humor... a nice variant to boy loves girl, boy loses girl and then gets her back....

This is an imaginative movie, with elements of the slightly farcical movies of the '80's (Secret of my Success, you know the sort of thing). It's saved from mediocrity and anachronism by a sort of twisted realism caused by disjointed, surprising plot changes/devices. This is also evident in the sex scenes (with a sort of "left a bit"/"can we... move down the bed" approach) which makes the romance element all the more touching.

Josh Charles (Threesome, Dead Poets Society) delivers a traffic metaphor heavy Kevin Bacon (in She's Having a Baby)-esque narration competently, while Anne Heche manages to pull off being equally expressive, beautiful and serene. It's very hard not to love her in this movie, should you let yourself fall into the sap trap.

It's a striking film, touching and witty. Feelgood? Yeah, I guess I feel alright.

Some have described this as a sort of "When Harry Met Sally" for the West Coast, mainly because the two lovers meet repeatedly over the course of years. In this respect the two are similar but not in any other way.

The director's first feature is a reasonable romantic comedy about two "kooks" that fall in love whilst trying to find their respective dreams in live. Josh Charles dreams of being a traffic reporter like his idol John Goodman. Anne Heche dreams of a career in dance. The film follows their love affair from childhood to adulthood in LA.

The film tries to make the characters interesting by giving them quirks. Charles' interest in traffic is quite well explained but still seems strangely unlikely. The other characters don't fit their actions at all and aren't developed well - from Heche to Goodman they all seem to be written as "quirky" to be interesting, while their actions are written to move the story along.

The story tries to draw the traffic element into some sort of metaphor for life & love but again it doesn't really fit. Even the soundtrack, despite containing good songs, is the usual fare for this type of romantic film.

Overall a poorly developed film that never really convinces - from the quirks, the performances and the ending. Only the scenery and the idea of traffic as a metaphor for love is there to hold the interest.

I saw this movie probably 3 years ago and thought it was pretty good. Josh Charles does a nice job as a traffic controller in a small town who dreams of landing a big job in a big city. The movie details his life, more or less if I remember correctly. Great song by Rusted Root is featured in the movie (send me on my way).

Josh Charles is wonderful as a young man obsessed with...traffic? He longs to be a traffic reporter in the sky, but first finds on-again/off-again love with a perplexing Anne Heche (she's so flaky he can't get a grip on her, and neither can we). John Goodman has a funny supporting role, and the production values are first-rate, but this is short-film material stretched out too far. Terrific cast includes Dey Young, Christine Lahti, and Brent Spiner, but each has very little to do, and the film is flattened out by an overall lack of imagination and by its length. More cleverness was obviously needed; there's not enough substance here for the picture to stay the course. ** from ****