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The late Edmund Gwenn on his deathbed said that dying was easy, comedy was hard. I think most entertainers would agree with that. One thing for sure is that if the laughs don't come and in the right places you are doing something wrong.

Tom Hanks and Sally Field are a couple of hopefuls looking to break and they're regulars at the club where Mark Rydell is the emcee. Field is a wife and mother with two girls and married to John Goodman. She's also been told she's funny and wants to see if she can make a living at it.

Hanks is the son of a top flight doctor who has forced his son into going to medical school where he flunks out. There are some real issues here with Hanks desperate to succeed and get to the top of his own field as his father has done.

Hanks best moment is when he does get to perform before some TV executives he breaks down completely on stage. It was a beautiful piece of acting.

Punchline more than most films I've seen, shows that these funny people go through a lot of heartache to make it in that business. Hanks and Field are really good pair of leads and the rest of the cast, most of them playing the denizens of the comedy world lend wonderful support.

If you think you might want to be a comedian, see this movie.

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.

Look at the poster. "Laugh!" It says. That is an ill conceived promotion material for this movie that is sold everywhere as a comedy when it's not. Viewers and reviewers get the wrong expectation and you see this huge amount of frustrated reviews. I didn't laugh once and I'm not mad.

It competently sells the illusion of a successful and a bomb act. We can see the increasing confidence of Sally's character as a performer and clearly see Hanks' confidence on-stage and inner turmoil as the movie goes.

The problem with this movie is that it's a small story in a sense that all we get are small victories and losses. I never felt that those characters were truly pursuing their passions by doing sacrifices. The polar extreme of this is De Niro's character in The King of Comedy, also struggling to break in this business.

It's a good movie, but incapable to make you laugh or cry.

I cannot say enough good things about this movie. It's one of the most original movies I've seen in a long time.

How often is it that we have this movie plot: boy meets involved girl, girl realizes boy is her true love, girl dumps her lover to marry boy, boy and girl live happily ever after? To say that this is not the case in this movie is a gross understatement.

The stand-up acts are not amazing, but that's not really what the movie's about. It's better if you look at it as a drama. I love how everyone thinks Tom Hanks, a very funny guy in this movie, is a one-dimensional person who is ALL about humor. That's the real point of the movie - he's not. I especially love the line (and I know I'll screw this up somehow):

Field: You're so funny because everything is a joke to you. Hanks: I'm so funny because nothing is a joke to me.

I've seen my share of comedy-dramas, but most I only liked for the comedy aspect. In this one I could just ignore all the stand-up and I'd still love this movie (although the opening scene is very well-done and funny).

I would highly recommend it, it comes on the cable movie channels a lot.

A few years before Sally Field and Tom Hanks played mother and son in "Forrest Gump", they played stand-up rivals in the light comedy "Punchline". I will say that this isn't the funniest movie that I've ever seen, but it's great just for the tension between the performers, some of the stand-up jokes, and for Tom Hanks's definition of the rectum; you have to agree that his name for it is a lot more descriptive.

So, this movie probably won't give you any kind of religious experience, but it's a fun way to pass time. Also starring John Goodman and Damon Wayans.

Oh, and in case Sally Field is reading this: Happy 60th birthday! I'm in Russia right now, and yesterday, I went to Verkhoturye, where they have a convent. As a semi-birthday present to you, I said that the convent housed a flying nun. I know, you don't like that moniker, but I had to do something. Thanks for everything.

Watching this for the first time in 2025, it strikes me that the environment that we are introduced into in Punchline is probably just as relevant today. There are more stand-up comedians now than ever, and only the Johnny Carson appearance has been replaced by a Netflix special!

The behind-the-scenes window to the lives of the struggling comics looking for a break has probably not changed very much. Full of narcissism and the illusion of comraderie, but willing to back-stab in order to progress in their career.

As far as the film is concerned, it is impressive to see what a great performance Tom Hanks delivered so early in his career. He perfectly embodies his character, and his breakdown scenes are among the most interesting in the movie. It's a great way to provide character background without resorting to flash-backs or other clunky storytelling.

Sally Field's character arc is a lot less satisfying. It feels as if a happy ending was being forced into this, and something about that arc just feels convenient. So, either the drama between her and her husband (JOhn Goodman) is too manufactured, or the change in his stance is just not justified and comes off like a convenience for the plot. In any case, it is hard not to like seeing Field on stage, either bombing or succeeding with her act.

Worth a watch, particularly if you enjoy these actors. But it doesn't leave you with much to think about.

It's hard to envision a time in Tom Hanks' career where he had roles in 5 critically panned, as well as commercially dismal films. While I find Joe Versus the Volcano to be a genuinely remarkable and unique film, and Turner and Hooch to be a K-9 ripoff that is a lot more fun than any James Belushi vehicle, Punchline falls flat in too many ways to even get an A for effort.

Hanks is woefully miscast as a guy who's supposed to come off as a selfish jerk (it doesn't help that I can't help but imagine Tom asking viewers to donate to a WWII veterans memorial). When he borders on the icy cold determination of someone who believes they are bound for greatness but are relegated to mentor and also-ran, the movie and Hanks hint at greatness. But ultimately the role should have gone to someone more adept at playing selfish jerks: I imagine a young Kevin Spacey or a world-wearied Richard Belzer.

The real problem is the utter flatness of Sally Field's crowd-winning "jokes." Was I the only one groaning in horror at her Z-rate, HBO late-night schtick? The idea that she's a stunning new talent in the cutthroat world of 80s stand-up is unthinkable (I can't remember what documentary it was, but I saw an excellent collection of comedians talking about the desperate need to be the "next Eddie Murphy" and later the "next Roseanne/Seinfeld"). That's where the movie fails: it suggests that Hanks is just too unrelentingly cruel and embittered to attain stardom, while Fields good-natured "hilarious" insights into real-world pressures make her a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. Neither fully embody their roles convincingly, and the writer just doesn't know good comedy.

Jay Mohr described the creative nadir in comedy: when the typical comedian was bland guys sporting a neon blazer, standing in front of brick walls blurting out tired clichés like "you ladies know what I'm talking about." It's obvious that David Seltzer (writer of the gut-busting Omen series and The Other Side of the Mountain) thinks the world of these garden variety hacks, and without convincing leads, remarkably funny stand-up routines, or the proper balance of convincing drama and humor, the movie just falls flat in every way. I'm giving it a four based on the gleam of promise in Hanks' otherwise unconvincing turn and the faint hope that he could actually portray a genuinely unlikable character in the future (though I doubt it considering a similar misstep with Bonfire of the Vanities and his lovable hit-man in Road to Perdition).

**1/2

This is a decent comedy-drama that has some very good moments. Unfortunately it has some bad moments, too. It does do a good job of avoiding cliches, though. The main reason to watch this film is for the oscar caliber performance of Tom Hanks.

Punchline begins with an engaging premise. Steven Gold (Tom Hanks at age 31) is a med student driven by his physician father to become a doctor. But Steven hates medical school, can't stand the sight of blood, etc. Instead of going to class, he goes to the local comedy club (The Gas Station). Instead of doing his homework, he does standup. He's very good. Lilah Krytsick (Sally Field at 42) is a frumpy Jersey housewife with three kids and a husband (John Goodman) who sells insurance. He wants her to stay home nights, but she has a passion for wanting to make people laugh. So she too moonlights at The Gas Station. She is not funny. In desperation she spends five hundred dollars of household funds to buy jokes to use on the audience.

Everything bombs.

Meanwhile, Steven is a little behind in his rent and thinks that, what the hey, he can sell Lilah some jokes. But it never comes to that. Instead he becomes enchanted with her and helps her break free of her inhibitions and perform naturally and effectively on stage. Can true love be far behind? (Rhetorical question, but the answer is not pat.)

If you are a Tom Hanks fan, see this movie. You will be delighted. He puts on a versatile performance depicting a guy who needed to be, in the very fiber of his being, a comedian. The role shows off his talent, and makes us understand why he is now, at the relatively young age of 45, one of America's premiere screen idols.

The rest of the movie, however, is a mix of strengths and weaknesses. Sally Field, in a difficult role, gives an uneven performance which I think is partly the fault of director David Seltzer, who also wrote the script. His direction is brilliant and awful by turns. In particular the schmaltzy, unnecessarily unrealistic ending is very disappointing. He also dug himself a hole because the top comedic performance had to be the last, yet it wasn't. All the expectations of the audience fell, and perhaps that is why Seltzer stuck himself with an ending that played like something devised by a committee of filmland execs intent on political correctness above all else. Also, any difference between the John Goodman who played Rosanne Arnold's husband on TV and the John Goodman here was not immediately discernible.

However some of the scenes were just perfect I especially liked it when Steven's overbearing father (instead of a network producer) shows up at the club. Steven Gold's anguished, self-revelatory on stage reaction is excellent. --Or when Lilah rushes to prepare dinner slapstick style for company; or when night is done and it's four or five am and Steven has helped her discover herself and he asks how she will explain being out all night to her husband and she says she will crawl into bed with one of the kids and he will think she slept there all night. Also good was the singing in the rain scene and the scene in which the daughter, showing the wisdom of children, says to Lilah, after her husband asks to see her perform, "Say yes, mom." Also good were the motley troupe of semi-pro comedians, including a fine performance by Mark Rydell as Romeo, the manager of the club.

This rates a five point something at IMDb, but that's a little unfair. It's a better movie than that. See it for Tom Hanks, and for David Seltzer, who just missed making a great movie.

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon!)

...nor does it aspire to be very funny, and therein lies the problem. Two disparate non-professional stand-up comics in New York find common ground in their need to get up on stage and perform, which sounds like a good start for a comedy starring Sally Field and Tom Hanks. Unfortunately, writer-director David Seltzer has designed the picture as a 'dramedy'--striving to show us the dark, desperate side of comedians--and his film is so full of heartbreaking little asides and tension-filled pauses that one begins to squirm. "Punchline" deals with the anxiety of getting a performance right, but neither Field nor Hanks possesses the right timing to be convincing as a stand-up comic (it's something intrinsic in a performer that can't easily be duplicated by actors, no matter how talented). Seltzer wants us to see the narcissism and insecurity, the need for Hanks' Steven Gold to adopt a brash stage presence and how that affects his personal life, but none of these ingredients are really welcomed by viewers attracted to a story about funny men and women. Field's housewife, Lilah, who makes audiences laugh with coy sex jokes, is an unreal creation, but Field comes off slightly better than her co-star simply because she's ingratiating Sally Field, and even her emotional outbursts are charming. Elsewhere, John Goodman as Field's husband shines up a throwaway role, and Mark Rydell is appropriately grimy as a nightclub M. C. The writing is so purposefully sour that we can't tell whether or not it was intended when a joke bombs. Seltzer pumps up Hanks' character with self-infatuated/self-loathing pomposity, but his real goal is in bringing Steven back down to Earth, humbling him...none of which is very entertaining. *1/2 from ****

A reviewer once complained that "Punchline" commits an unforgivable sin by being an unfunny movie about stand up comics. For anyone who agrees, try looking "irony" up in the dictionary - it's an element that's occasionally used outside of the literary world.

The film's deliberately awkward and painful scenes illustrate the point, "Lady, nothing is a joke to me. That's why I'm in comedy. And that's why you're not."

The same reviewer made the hilarious claim that comics never tell jokes out of compulsion or denial, but simply because "they love making other people laugh." newsflash: creative and hysterical people are often highly dysfunctional! :D thank you goodnight!

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.

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.

55/100. David Seltzer's direction doesn't guide the film along as it should, he doesn't seem to know what direction to go in. . It jumps from comedy, to satire, heavy drama, romance and back again. Sally Fields and Tom Hanks try, but the material they are working with just doesn't know what it wants to be. The romantic angle is completely out of place, and overall the bitterness of the film is a turn off. Even the stand up comedy scenes shown in the film that are supposed to be good, simply aren't. The ending is not satisfying at all. It is a shame the stars didn't get better material, it could have worked so well in different hands.

To say it has Tom hanks, Sally Field and John Goodman you'd expect better.

Sally field plays a woman with a husband and kids having a midlife crisis.

John Goodman plays her hubby who is underutilised

And Tom, thank god he switched gears into dramatic roles.

This is the best Hollywood film ever made about stand-up comedians. Stand-Up comedians come from New York, not California or Hollywood. One of the funny things about this movie was that only two of all the stand-up comedians actually tried to do stand-up routines. The others were one-trick ponies.

Stand-up requires careful crafting of personal (and sometimes not personal) stories that gradually get the audience warmed up and eventually rolling. Trying to get away with one-liners doesn't work because it reverts back to Vaudevillian comedy. Stand-up is more difficult than Vaudeville humor. Tom Hanks was a superstar of stand-up BEFORE this film was made. He has what it takes.

The most difficult job for the director and other members of the cast, however, was trying to make us believe that Sally Field was a stand-up comedian; and obviously she is not. She is a fine actress, but not remotely a stand-up comedian. The rest of the cast is very entertaining with their one-trick ponies, but it is Tom Hanks who really steals the show.

Here is a film loaded with unfunny, boring jokes and annoying characters. I can honestly say I did not laugh at one joke in this movie. It is hard to believe Fields and Hanks actually took money for starring in this flop, not to mention compromising their integreties. Giving it one star was generous. It was a waste of over two hours of my time. If you are not in the mood to laugh, this is the movie for you.

"Punchline" is a comedy-drama film directed by David Seltzer, starring Sally Field and Tom Hanks. Set in the world of stand-up comedy, the film explores the highs and lows of pursuing a career in comedy and the personal struggles of its characters.

Sally Field plays Lilah Krytsick, a suburban housewife who dreams of becoming a successful stand-up comedian. Despite her lack of experience, Lilah is determined to follow her passion and enrolls in a comedy class taught by Steven Gold, played by Tom Hanks, a seasoned comic with his own share of personal demons.

As Lilah navigates the competitive world of stand-up comedy, she faces numerous challenges, including stage fright, self-doubt, and the pressures of balancing her comedy career with her responsibilities as a wife and mother. Along the way, she forms a bond with Steven, who serves as both a mentor and a romantic interest.

The film explores themes of ambition, perseverance, and the sacrifices people make in pursuit of their dreams. It also delves into the psychology of comedy, examining the insecurities and vulnerabilities that drive comedians to seek validation through laughter.

Sally Field delivers a compelling performance as Lilah, capturing both the humor and the heartache of her character's journey. Tom Hanks brings his trademark charm and wit to the role of Steven, creating a complex and nuanced portrayal of a troubled comedian struggling to find meaning in his life.

"Punchline" strikes a balance between humor and drama, offering plenty of laughs while also delving into the emotional lives of its characters. It provides an insider's look at the world of stand-up comedy, shedding light on the challenges and rewards of pursuing a career in the entertainment industry.

Overall, "Punchline" is an engaging and entertaining film that offers a poignant exploration of the human condition through the lens of comedy. With its strong performances and insightful storytelling, it remains a memorable entry in the genre of comedy-drama.