Tom Hanks has transformed himself from the party dude of Bachelor Party to the romantic lead of Sleepless in Seattle to the war hero of Saving Private Ryan to the six different characters he plays, amusingly, in Cloud Atlas.
With over 80 acting credits to his name, it’s hard to choose the best Tom Hanks titles. Today we take a look at the best Tom Hanks movies…
39. Nothing in Common (1986)
Hanks plays an advertising executive whose life is turned upside down — this is the exact description of many Hanks roles at this time — when his parents (Jackie Gleason and Eva Marie Saint) get divorced and he has to take care of both of them. This is high-concept and tiresome, and Gleason, in particular, hams it up every time he’s onscreen, but this was the start of Hanks’s pivot toward a more “serious” screen persona. He’s not particularly funny in the film; he’s trying to play this one straight. Nothing in Common wasn’t the appropriate vehicle for that, but the instinct was right.
