PUSHING TIN

Along with our full reviews, we have isolated the mention of Cate's magnificent performance from several other reviews. Some highlights:

CNN:
The wives in question are played with film-saving grace by Blanchett as Cusack's better half, and Jolie paired off with Thornton. Blanchett's performance is perfection in both pacing and pathos, and she has her "Lon-Guyland" accent down to the final T. It's an impressive leap from her Oscar-nominated title role in "Elizabeth".

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE:
Meanwhile, the brilliant Blanchett and the spellbindingly sultry Angela Jolie ("Gia") play their wives, supermom Connie Falzone and heavy-drinking sex bomb Mary Bell. Cliches aside, these characters complete a formidable screen quartet.

THE BOSTON GLOBE:
Thornton's Russell retaliates by putting a few moves on Nick's wife, played in a realistic style poles apart from her young Queen Elizabeth by the increasingly impressive and as of now amazingly versatile Australian actress Cate Blanchett. On this occasion she will absolutely convince you she's from Queens. She and Thornton, as a loner whose self-containment and slow, deliberate tempo advertise that he's not a native New Yorker, deliver the most impressive acting chops here.

COX NEWS SERVICE:
[Cusack's] beautifully matched by Cate Blanchett as his wife (a "first"). Sporting a dead-on Long Island accent, she exudes an almost palpable sense of decency as a woman trying to expand her suburban horizons by taking night classes.

THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES:
(Thumbs Up--3 stars out of 4) Cate Blanchett is astonishly transformed from Elizabeth I into a Long Island housewife. Blanchett, eccentric in "Oscar and Lucinda" and regal in "Elizabeth" is cheery and normal here, chatting about taking art classes...The movie is worth seeing, and I'm recommending it because of the performances.

THE SEATTLE TIMES:
Cast as Connie, Nick's loving but increasingly suspicious wife, Cate Blanchett is astonishingly believable. The gifted Australian actress, so recently Oscar-nominated as the 16th century British queen in "Elizabeth," slips into her Long Island accent and American mannerisms with such ease that you'd swear she was a native. Her performance is the most startling single element in the picture, and Connie ends up being the most sympathetic and complex character. Connie, the seemingly simple high-school sweetheart Nick married, is gradually transformed into the movie's heart and soul.

THE KANSAS CITY STAR:
And although the character is a cliche, check out Cate Blanchett as Nick's suburban wife. The Australian actress ("Elizabeth") is virtually unrecognizable thanks to a new 'do and an impeccable New Yawk accent.

THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS:
The two lead actresses are superb. Ms. Blanchett's performance confirms the suspicion that she, rather than Lady Gwyneth, should have been victorious in last month's Oscar derby. Her role of Connie is not as developed as Mr. Cusack's Nick, but she broadens the sketchiness gracefully. We sense the character's pain, frustration and confusion.

THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE:
As Nick's wife, Connie, Blanchett gives us someone as far from her own Australian background as can be imagined, and yet she knows this woman. Blanchett doesn't just do an accent. From the diffidence of her expression, to the unwitting coarseness of her gestures, to the guileless way she opens up to strangers, Blanchett takes on a completely different body than the one she had in "Elizabeth".
She may not be onscreen as much as Cusack and Thornton, but Blanchett's role embodies the movie's heart. Her unspecific yearning for beauty -- ``the life of the mind,´´ as she puts it -- is a craving we realize has to go unanswered in a world where everybody´s pushing tin and flying at 600 mph.

USA TODAY:
The movie is made to a great extent by its four key performances, which include the surprise and successful casting of Elizabeth's chameleonic Cate Blanchett as Cusack's wife.

THE NEW YORK TIMES:
It helps that the principals are played by John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Cate Blanchett and Angelina Jolie. They make a cast that would be worth watching in just about anything and, in fact, Whatever possessed Ms. Blanchett to play Nick's spouse, a jaunty Long Island housewife with a strong local accent, has stood her in good stead. She fits in so well here that it may be a while before you wonder why Elizabeth I is talking about tuna casseroles.

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE:
Meanwhile, the brilliant Blanchett and the spellbindingly sultry Angela Jolie ("Gia") play their wives, supermom Connie Falzone and heavy-drinking sex bomb Mary Bell. Cliches aside, these characterscomplete a formidable screen quartet. And when the men's rivalry explodes into brawls and adultery, the actors have the charisma to dragus along.

The LOS ANGELES TIMES:
Cate Blanchett, makes an UNNERVINGLY PERFECT transition from Elizabeth the queen to Long Island housewife.

NEWSDAY:
Nick is married to the loving and lovely Connie (a virtually unrecognizable and fabulous Cate Blanchett), and he suffers from big-fish, small-pond syndrome. Plenty about "Pushing Tin" is quite enjoyable, particularly the acting. Blanchett, Oscar-nominated for "Elizabeth" this year, gives the kind of performance that never gets prizes but is so contrary to everything we think we know about her that it's a constant wonder to watch her work.

VARIETY:
But the biggest surprise is Blanchett, the Aussie actress who makes the almost unimaginable leap from "Elizabeth" to a Long Island housewife with complete conviction and adds more layers to her performance than anyone else.

THE LOS ANGELES NEWTIMES:
For Blanchett, playing a ditzy Long Island housewife after starring as the Virgin Queen may seem like the most radical change of pace imaginable. Regardless, she has brought it off magnificently. Not only does she get all the external business down perfectly -- that is, the wig, the accent, the clothes -- she also manages to give Connie an inner life that is both touchingly human and comic. Though it's certain she won't receive the acclaim for this performance that she earned for her part in Elizabeth, from my view, her work in bringing this plain, good-natured woman to life is the better of the two.

THE LA WEEKLY:
Bolstered by fine supporting performances from Cate Blanchett doing a creditable Ellen Barkin as Cusack's wife, and Angelina Jolie, all lips and leopard skin as Thornton's sullen better half, their symbiosis is so funny and, in the end endearing, that you forgive "Pushing Tin" it's shamelessly prime-time ending.

THE VILLAGE VOICE:
If Pushing Tin will be remembered for anything, it'll be for Cate Blanchett as Cusack's sweet but savvy Nassau County wife, Connie. Forget that Blanchett nails a working-class L.I. accent better than any imported actress ever has—she shows up the natives, too, including several Long Island­bred costars. She's also the only 3-D human being in sight. Hell, anybody could lord it up as a monarch; here's the true measure of an actress, defending her career against mediocre scripting and direction and coming out on top. Long live Cate.

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FULL-LENGTH REVIEWS:

Atkinson, Michael. 1999. The Village Voice. April 21, 1999.

Baker, Steve. 1999. Film Reviews. 1999.

Blackwelder, Rob. 1999. Spliced. April 23, 1999.

Bradshaw, Peter. 1999. Guardian UK. October 29, 1999.

Braun, Liz. 1999. Toronto Sun. April 23, 1998.

DeLapp, Bill. 1999. The Syracuse New Times. April 28, 1999.

Ellingson, Anniee. 1999. Boxoffice Magazine. April 21, 1999.

Heller, Scott. 1999. The Boston Phoenix. April 22, 1999.

King, Greg. 1999. Greg Roy King's Film Review. July, 1999.

LaSalle, Mick. 1999. San Francisco Chronicle. April 23, 1999.

Paatsch, Leigh, 1999. Melbourne Herald Sun. July 22, 1999.

Stratton, David. 1999. The Australian. July 1999.

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Television Roles | Parklands, Lizzie, Paradise Road | Oscar & Lucinda | Elizabeth |
Pushing Tin | An Ideal Husband | The Talented Mr. Ripley | Cate on Stage

Aussie Cate Online © 1999 Lin, Dean, Lance
800x600 screen size recommended.

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