The other day, someone mentioned to me that Tom Hanks was today’s equivalent of Jimmy Stewart on the screen. The kindly, everyman that can play tough if needed but is usually more on the sensitive side. The only real difference is Stewart never starred in anything like Bachelor Party or The Burbs or Bosom Buddies. I don’t know if we would ever see Jimmy Stewart in women’s clothing, so Hanks has that on him.
With that kind of status, it’s not a shock that Hanks decided to open his ninth SNL stint with a sit-down chat with America. No song and dance, no q & a, instead we get a fine chat with America’s dad and his kind words of wisdom on where we go in the coming months. Hanks puts on his Mr. Rogers sweater, goes to a private spot and lectures America on the decisions it has made over the past years. It’s comforting in these days of nasty elections and hateful language being spewed across party lines.
It’s hard to be America, it’s hard to have a summer birthday, and it’s hard to sit around and clean all of those guns. That includes the gun that shoots t-shirts into the crowd. Not only that, but Hanks closes it by saying the kid “is a Hanks.” That means one of two things. First, that Megan Ganz is right and Colin Hanks is truly America in human form:
https://twitter.com/meganganz/status/790044074719977477?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Or that Chet Haze / Chester Hanks is the spirit of America. A troubled soul on the path to redemption. Could Chet Haze truly be America’s savior? Will he finally be able to complete his long-time feud with Howard Stern? Will that rap career take off like a classic American dream? I’d say no because Colin Hanks was in Fargo and seems to be doing much better. Maybe they can split it?
(Via SNL)
