Shaking the Tree

I admit the only reason I got this movie was the presence of Courteney Cox and, once again, I'm surprised at how bad her early movies really were. It's a good thing she lucked into "Friends," because her choices for film roles were atrocious. I suppose I can't be too hard on her this time, since she only has a tiny part in this self-consciously earnest coming-of-age movie set in bleak Chicago. The first thing that strikes a sour note is the concept, four young men coming to terms with adulthood in an urban environment, quite obviously a ripoff of 'Diner', a much better film from eight years earlier. This movie was made in 1990 but not released until 1992 - a hint of what a turkey it was. The problem is the writing is so poor and the main characters have so little in common, one can't sympathize with them or even see why they would hang out together. Check the credits for the writers and you won't be surprised to see they hadn't written anything before or since. Courteney is little more than a pudgy and very pregnant wife whose husband is cheating on her -- talk about being miscast! The storylines for the four guys seem cliched and lack any real depth. By the time the smarmy conclusion comes, you just don't care.

'Shaking the Tree' follows a long trend of the 20-something soul searching story which involves a group of friends longing for the glory days and wondering what exactly went wrong in life that they didn't quite achieve what they thought they could have. Faded sports heroes, lost loves, deadend jobs, and sometimes nothing at all. The earliest of these and probably the most recognized is 'Diner' and later, 'The Big Chill' and 'St. Elmo's Fire.' Others that I can think of is the early 90s 'Queens Logic' and the late 90s comedy, 'The Four Aces.' 'Shaking the Tree,' because it offers nothing new really, and even stories of characters that are not all that unique or really all that interesting compared to others like it, it is instantly forgettable, despite the nostalgic appeal of 80s regular, Ayre Gross and pre-Friends Courtney Cox.

This is simply the story of four guys long past their own glory days. One is soon-to-be-father and aspiring novelist who can't seem to relate to his wife and deals with it by fooling around. Another is engaged to be married, but wedding plans are nixed when he finds out that his fiancée long ago slept with one of his friends. Another is a bartender who can't box anymore and is wondering what is left for him. And another comes from money but has zero ambition and, seems to deal with that, by running away from everything except for the ten grand bet he gambled away at the races.

Not a particularly bad movie. A nice distracting time waster, if nothing else, but overall, there are a slew of this variety of comedy/dramas that have been in the past 20 years alone, and this one is nothing special among them.

I got this movie because i really liked Gale Hansen in Dead Poets Society. The guy is brilliant! Don't listen to other people when they say this is boring - it really isn't. Its funny, full of one-liners and well acted (at least by Gale!).

Its a touching story in places, very 80s/90s cusp and tells the story of four male friends who are branching out into their lives with different ideas on what life will/wont hold for them. Two of them are successful, one is trying to be (if he ever finishes his novel) and the fourth is a rich kid/dead beat with a gambling problem. We watch the four living through their problems and successes with women, work and life. The only thing keeping them all together is their friendship.

Its also a fun film in places too (especially the baseball game part - Gale you are so funny...you have me in stitches!.

Personally i was sad to see it end - i could have quite easily sat through another two hours of Sully's 'shenanigans' :OD

Enjoy!