Punchline

R

Released Sep 7, 1988

2 hr. 3 min.

Comedy

Drama

List

60%

20 Reviews

Tomatometer

43%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Lilah Krytsick (Sally Field) is a mother and housewife who's always believed she could be a stand-up comedian. Steven Gold (Tom Hanks) is an experienced stand-up seemingly on the cusp of success. When the two meet, they form an unlikely friendship, and Steven tries to help the untried Lilah develop her stage act. Despite the objections of her family and some very wobbly beginnings, Lilah improves, and soon she finds herself competing with Steven for a coveted television spot.

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Kirsten W

Love the stars, love the story.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/23/24

Full Review

Steve D

The arc between Sally Fields & Goodman was fullfilling. Hanks performs a Singing in the Rain parody of interest - back when his physical comedy was a major part of his repertoire. The stand up comedy segments were very dated, but don't go into it expecting the stand up to be riveting.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

12/22/23

Full Review

Jim A

Horrible film. The problem is most of it was written by Barry Sobel, an absolutely UNFUNNY "stand up comic". The old cliche of audience laughing way too hard and the lame comedians is so over the top, it made me cringe. Acting was ok all around , especially by John Goodman, but the "comedy" was just horrendously bad. Didn't even smirk at any of the so called comics, yet Hanks' character is supposed to be some comedy wizard? NO. Just awful writing.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

04/02/23

Full Review

steve d

With this talent it should be better,

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

David Seltzer, who wrote The Omen and Prophecy, was excited about comedy clubs all the way back to 1979, but the script sat for years unmade before producer Daniel Melnick found it in the Columbia files. Tom Hanks Steven Gold character was the hero of the movie, but comes off so mean at parts that it just didn't work. Instead of making this a small movie with no stars, Columbia president Steve Sohmer reached out to Sally Field, who came on board as the producer and co-star. Both Hanks and Field worked for months to improve their timing on stage, with Hanks training with comedy writer Randy Fechter and stand-up comic Barry Sobel, while Field studied under comic Susie Essman and sitcom writer Dottie Archibald. Steven Gold (Hanks) is a failed medical student obsessed with his stand-up career, someone who uses the skills he should have in the operating room to dissect what makes stand-up work. Lilah Krytsick (Field) is a housewife with the dream of making a career that she can own outside of her boring life cooking dinners and raising children with her husband John (John Goodman, ironically playing the wife of a Roseanne Barr-type comedian, ironically in the same year that he would play Barr's TV husband; fellow ABC actor Candace Cameron is one of their daughters). The true joy of this film is in seeing the stand-ups work on their material, as well as the actors and real comedians selected to play them, like Damon Wayans, Sobel, Pam Matteson, George McGrath (the singing nun in this movie also wrote Big Top Pee-Wee), Taylor Negron (who was trained for comedy by Lucille Ball), Barry Neikrug, Angel Salazar, Mac Robbins, Max Alexander, Paul Kozlowski, Marty Pollio (a real-life juggling comedian), Casey Sander, George Wallace, Michael Pollock and Bob Zmuda as a heckler. Romeo, the owner of the club in this movie, is played by Mark Rydell, who hadn't acted since The Long Goodbye. He's much better known as a director with The Rose and On Golden Pond being his best-considered movies. Comedians are screwed up people. This movie won't change that notion. That said, it got me emotionally a few times and has some decent moments.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Like the soliloquies in the stand-up sections. Some of the senarios and scenes stretched, but overall a very enjoyable movie. Might appear as dated to some watching now

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

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David Seltzer

Director

Sally Field

Lilah Krytsick

Tom Hanks

Steven Gold

John Goodman

John Krytsick

Mark Rydell

Romeo

Kim Greist

Madeline Urie

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

The problem may be that the movie isn't nearly tough enough. It needs to be more hard-boiled, more merciless in its dissection of egos, more perceptive about the cutthroat nature of show business.

Rated: 2/4

Jan 1, 2000

Full Review

Rene Jordan

El Nuevo Herald (Miami)

Tom Hanks gets a job so brilliant, so ambivalent, that it's hard to know whether to laugh, cry, or watch him dance beneath the rain. [Full review in Spanish]

Jun 15, 2022

Full Review

Emily Sears

Birth.Movies.Death.

As someone who prefers her comedy with a side of melancholy, I'd say that the performance from Tom Hanks alone makes this a worthwhile watch.

Sep 26, 2017

Full Review

Cathy Burke

United Press International

Though Punchline defies the Hollywood penchant for producing either pure comedy or straight drama, its view of those with the guts to stand before an audience and dare them to laugh is oddly uplifting.

Aug 23, 2016

Full Review

Steve Crum

Video-Reviewmaster.com

Unfunny, at times morose, comedy-drama about standup comics.

Rated: 3/5

Mar 23, 2008

Full Review

David Kaplan

Kaplan vs. Kaplan

Rated: 4/5

Mar 1, 2008

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Lilah Krytsick (Sally Field) is a mother and housewife who's always believed she could be a stand-up comedian. Steven Gold (Tom Hanks) is an experienced stand-up seemingly on the cusp of success. When the two meet, they form an unlikely friendship, and Steven tries to help the untried Lilah develop her stage act. Despite the objections of her family and some very wobbly beginnings, Lilah improves, and soon she finds herself competing with Steven for a coveted television spot.

Director: David Seltzer
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Production Co: Fogwood Films, Columbia Pictures Corporation
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 7, 1988, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA): $20.3M
Sound Mix: Surround

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