---
title: "Punchline (1988) review"
description: "Sally Field putting together dinner is funnier than every comedy montage in this film combined."
url: https://www.joekarlsson.com/reviews/punchline/
---

![A still from Punchline (1988)](https://www.joekarlsson.com/images/reviews/punchline/backdrop.webp)

# Punchline (1988)

Dec 29, 2025 | 2 min read | Rated 2.5 out of 5 | Dir. David Seltzer

Sally Field putting together dinner is funnier than every comedy montage in this film combined.

The movie knows the housewife stuff is the funny stuff. It literally says so out loud. And sure enough, Sally Field putting dinner together while juggling her family is genuinely fun and funny to watch. I wish the whole movie was that - her balancing domestic chaos with comedy ambitions in a way that’s actually comedic. Instead we get endless montages of stand-up comedians telling jokes with no setups, and I didn’t laugh at a single one. Reading reviews from 1988, I don’t think people found it funny then either.

Tom Hanks is trying to show the egotistical side of show business, and he cracks it open a little - but then the movie pulls back. It feels half-baked. There’s also a half-baked romance with Sally Field that appears out of nowhere and then just disappears. I wanted this to be more cutting, to say something broader about the business. It feels like a peek behind the curtain, but I didn’t learn anything new.

That said - Hanks is charming and a little unhinged here, which is great to see. You don’t get that with modern Hanks. Sally Field is wonderful, and I loved the red hair. John Goodman is genuinely scary as the angry husband. I was taken aback by how intense he plays it. He charmed me by the end, but damn.

Speaking of the endings - I hated it. The movie sets up this whole thing and then just has her give it up. I hated it. I hated it. I hated it.

Also on [Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/joekarlsson/film/punchline/)

## Works on My Machine

Get the next post by email. My newsletter covers homelab builds, AI tools and open source, and it goes out when I have something to say.

It's free, and you can unsubscribe anytime. You'll get an email to confirm first.

![Joe Karlsson at his desk, chin on hand, with a microphone in front of him](https://www.joekarlsson.com/images/about/collage/studio.webp)

Joe  
Karlsson

I write about my homelab, AI tools, databases, and the weird stuff I build on the side.

[More about me →](https://www.joekarlsson.com/about/)

[Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/joekarlsson.com) | [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/joekarlsson/) | [GitHub](https://github.com/JoeKarlsson)