Search - Punchline on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Humor, Profanity Movie Release: 1988 DVD Release: 07/09/2002 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Edition: Restored/Remastered Subtitles: English, French, Korean, Spanish, Thai SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 2 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Total Copies: 7 Genres: Comedy Drama, Psychological Drama, Showbiz Drama

Sally Field goes the Roseanne route in Punchline. Field plays a housewife and mother who suddenly develops the urge to be a comedienne. Her comic instincts are on target, but her timing and delivery stinks. Tom Hanks, a stand-up comic with a few years' experience under his belt, offers to teach Field the ropes. As they get to know each other, Hanks and Field begin to pick up on each other's shortcomings; though Hanks has far more talent than Field, for example, he has a positively ruinous habit of expressing his deep-down dislike of everyone else in the world, and this frequently alienates his audience. Writer-director David Seltzer times Punchline like a good joke; he continually sets up for the expected, then pulls a last-minute fast one, keeping the film lively and unpredictable throughout. The supporting cast, coincidentally including future Roseanne star John Goodman, is uniformly superb. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Sally Field - Lilah Krytsick
Tom Hanks - Steven Gold
John Goodman - John Krytsick
Mark Rydell - Romeo, Comedy Club Owner
Kim Greist - Madeline Urie
Damon Wayans - Percy

David Seltzer's comedy-drama Punchline comes to DVD with a pair of transfers. The widescreen anamorphic transfer preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and is preferable in every way to the standard full-frame image. A closed-captioned English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Surround, while a French soundtrack has been recorded in Dolby Digital Stereo. English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, and Thai subtitles are accessible. There are no supplemental materials of any consequence, but this film has probably never looked or sounded better on home video. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide