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Our very own Dawn Taylor wrote a great piece highlighting Tom Hanks’ best role recently, and it got me thinking. Today, we think of Hanks as a serious dramatic actor, an Oscar winner who brings instant credibility to any movie he’s attached to. It wasn’t always this way, though. There was a time when this respected thespian was best known for his role on the TV sitcom Bosom Buddies](Amazon.com: Bosom Buddies - The Complete Series : Tom Hanks: Movies & TV) – a show that required him to spend at least half of his screen time dressed as a woman. Yes, once upon a time, Tom Hanks was funny – and sometimes outright hilarious. Honestly, I liked that Hanks better than the current model. Give me Tom playing the wild and crazy bus driver who’s about to marry Tawny Kitaen in Bachelor Party](Amazon.com: Bachelor Party : Hanks, Tom, Zmed, Adrian, Grizzard, George, Prescott, Robert, Stuart, Barbara: Movies & TV) to the hirsute and emaciated survivor of Cast Away](Cast Away (2000) - Movie | Moviefone). I’ll take Hanks as the man in love with a mermaid in Splash](Amazon.com: Splash SE : Tom Hanks, Daryl Hannah, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Dody Goodman, Bobby DiCicco, Ron Howard, Shecky Green, David Nelson, Darryl Edwards, Nancy Raffa, Christopher Thomas, Charles Macaulay, Clare Peck, Corki Grazer, Jack Denton, Fred Lerner, Fil Formicola, Jeff Doucette, Ronald F. Hoiseck, Nick D'Elia, Brian Grazer, Jerry Bruckheimer, Bobby Di Cicco, Richard B. Shull, Howard Morris, Tony di Benedetto, Patrick Cronin, Charles Walker, David Knell, Royce D. Applegate, Tony Longo, Nora Denney, Lou Tiano, Joe Grifasi, Rance Howard, Fred M. Lerner, Lowell Ganz, James Ritz, Pierre Epstein, Cheryl Howard, Louisa Marie, Valerie Wildman, Richard Dano, Clint Howard, Ron Kuhlman, Joe Cirillo, Tom Toner, Lee Delano, Than Wyenn, Eileen Saki, Jodi Long, Jeffrey Dreisbach, Amy Ingersoll, Daryl Edwards, Jack Hallett, Bill Smitrovich, Jason Late: Movies & TV) over Hanks the symbologist with a weird mullet in The Da Vinci Code](The Da Vinci Code (2006) - Movie | Moviefone) any day.
I’d never argue that Hanks hasn’t done great work as a serious performer, but I just don’t enjoy it as much. He’s so serious now – almost annoyingly so – like the kid you grew up with who collected comic books and had all the coolest toys, but then managed to become an accountant. He might be a really great CPA – maybe even the best of his generation – but you can’t help but remember him as the goofy kid who snapped your bra in seventh grade and had the biggest toothy grin.
So, with that in mind, let’s take a trip down memory lane – a trip back to a better time, a time when Tom Hanks was actually kind of funny. Feel free to add your favorite Tom Hanks moments in the comments section.