I'm a big Hanks fan, have seen everything he's done and this to me is the only time that he has ever looked like he doesn't have a clue what he's doing. He has never looked more lost, unsure of himself and awkward in a movie. This the only bad movie he's ever done that he couldn't elevate or save. Usually he's the best thing about a crap movie that he should've had the sense to turn down...not this time
shareThe biggest problem is that he was completely miscast. They stupidly cast America's Everyman as the ultimate symbol of arrogant upper-class rich white symbol. Sherman McCoy is supposed to be a pariah. We're supposed to dislike him from the start, but then gradually feel bad for him, despite our prejudices, because of the unfair situation he finds himself in. Casting one of the most likeable leading actors in movie history as the lead character signals early on that we're meant to root for him, which negates the entire point Tom Wolfe, the original book's author, is trying to make.
Even at his lowest ebb, we're never meant to warm to McCoy; we're simply meant to come to the realisation that natural justice should transcend our own personal prejudices, and that however much we may dislike the man, Sherman McCoy is as entitled as anyone else to the presumption of innocence and a fair trial. That's why Brian De Palma, a filmmaker I usually have a lot of time for, should have cast an actor who was usually typecast as a villain.
And yes, it's probably still the one and only time that Hanks was 'bad', or at least one of the worst elements of a project he was involved in. Even in terrible films like Bachelor Party and The Ladykillers remake, he tends to be the best thing in it.