Less Than The Sum Of Its Talented Parts

You couldn’t find actors with different talents than the four main stars of “Pushing Tin,” a Mike Newell film that opens on video this week (see capsule review below).

John Cusack is cool pretty boy to Billy Bob Thornton’s cool country kicker, and Cate Blanchett is elite Shakespearean thespian to Angelina Jolie’s brand of street-smart sexiness.

For all their differences, each actor is well worth watching. And if you haven’t seen their full breadth of work, maybe the following select filmography will help you discover just how talented each of them is.

John Cusack

Cusack has been entertaining us since his days as a teen extra (look for him as one of the nerds in John Hughes’ 1984 teen comedy “Sixteen Candles”). He graduated from teen films to adult fare seemingly without effort. Look for him in:

“Say Anything” (1989) — As Lloyd Dobler, Cusack portrays the ultimate good guy. Lloyd is the keymaster, the boy-man who is utterly dependable even if he doesn’t want to sell or repair anything that’s been sold, processed or bought.

“The Grifters” (1990) — Cusack holds his own with the likes of Anjelica Huston and Annette Bening in this noir by Stephen Frears. He manage to give his character of Roy Dillon new meaning as the doomed antihero.

“Bullets Over Broadway” (1994) — In one of Woody Allen’s funnier films of late, Cusack plays playwright David Shayne, a man struggling with his talent — or lack thereof — until a street-wise gunman (Chazz Palminteri) begins to feed him lines.

Billy Bob Thornton

Lacking traditional good looks and saddled with an Arkansas twang that’s as backwoods as his two-word first name, Thornton seemed a long shot to become a movie star. He fooled us all, as the following demonstrate:

“One False Move” (1991) — As co-screenwriter of this Carl Franklin neo-noir, Thornton plays Ray Malcolm, a brutal psychopath whose run takes him into the path of a small-town sheriff (Bill Paxton) with secrets of his own.

“Sling Blade” (1996) — Director, writer and star of this cornbread drama, Thornton, playing Karl Childers, manages to convey a universe of feeling despite the limitations of his character’s developmental disabilities.

“A Simple Plan” (1998) — Again paired with Bill Paxton, and again playing a character of limited abilities, Thornton pulls off the film’s best acting performance (a subtle achievement that he could easily have taken over the top).

Cate Blanchett

Another refugee from the Brit-speak world of acting (in this case, Australia), Blanchett is relatively new to the screen. She’s making up for lost time:

“Oscar and Lucinda” (1997) — Blanchett plays Lucinda Leplastrier, an early feminist whose obsession with gambling helps her meet a kindred soul (Ralph Fiennes) and is really just a sign of her exuberance for life.

“Elizabeth” (1998) — Physically a match for the Virgin Queen, Blanchett wowed critics enough to warrant an Oscar nomination. She is, in fact, better than the film around her.

“An Ideal Husband” (1999) — From Elizabethan drama to Oscar Wilde, Blanchett proves, one, that she is adept at both and, two, that she can make an impact even in the presences of such scene-stealing talents as Rupert Everett and Julianne Moore.

Angelina Jolie

This 24-year-old daughter of Jon Voight, whose lips are so distinct that they seem to deserve separate film credits, grows with each role she takes. He small filmography includes:

“Foxfire” (1996) — Filmed in Portland and never released widely, this little high-school study features Jolie in a role that she could play in her sleep: that of the bad/good influence.

“Gia” (1998) — In this HBO production, Jolie plays doomed supermodel Gia Carangi whose insecurities match her ability to come alive in front of a camera.

Go. Rent. Enjoy.

The week’s major release on video:

Pushing Tin **

When a new guy (Billy Bob Thornton) comes to work at New York’s air-traffic control center, the resident hotshot (John Cusack) begins to lose his confidence — with predictable results. Mike Newell (“Four Weddings and a Funeral”) makes as much of the concept as he can, but the film never becomes more than merely that — a concept. Cusack is good, as he typically is in these kinds of things, and so are Angelina Jolie as the new guy’s sexy wife and Cate Blanchett who, though being Australian, does a perfect impersonation of a middle-class American wife. Thornton is less successful, his zen thing wearing thin. The trouble with “Pushing Tin” is that its characters are all more interesting than the story that they play out. That’s what happens when concept stays more important than the novel notion of a fully developed story line. Rated R.