Pie in the Sky

Some have described this as a sort of "When Harry Met Sally" for the West Coast, mainly because the two lovers meet repeatedly over the course of years. In this respect the two are similar but not in any other way.

The director's first feature is a reasonable romantic comedy about two "kooks" that fall in love whilst trying to find their respective dreams in live. Josh Charles dreams of being a traffic reporter like his idol John Goodman. Anne Heche dreams of a career in dance. The film follows their love affair from childhood to adulthood in LA.

The film tries to make the characters interesting by giving them quirks. Charles' interest in traffic is quite well explained but still seems strangely unlikely. The other characters don't fit their actions at all and aren't developed well - from Heche to Goodman they all seem to be written as "quirky" to be interesting, while their actions are written to move the story along.

The story tries to draw the traffic element into some sort of metaphor for life & love but again it doesn't really fit. Even the soundtrack, despite containing good songs, is the usual fare for this type of romantic film.

Overall a poorly developed film that never really convinces - from the quirks, the performances and the ending. Only the scenery and the idea of traffic as a metaphor for love is there to hold the interest.

I liked this film- I saw it to catch a bit player Larry Holden - but Charles and Heche make this a passable romantic movie. It was just offbeat enough- romance between a sky jockey and a modern dancer to be appealing... and the side bar- the lusty landlady added to the humor... a nice variant to boy loves girl, boy loses girl and then gets her back....

Josh Charles is wonderful as a young man obsessed with...traffic? He longs to be a traffic reporter in the sky, but first finds on-again/off-again love with a perplexing Anne Heche (she's so flaky he can't get a grip on her, and neither can we). John Goodman has a funny supporting role, and the production values are first-rate, but this is short-film material stretched out too far. Terrific cast includes Dey Young, Christine Lahti, and Brent Spiner, but each has very little to do, and the film is flattened out by an overall lack of imagination and by its length. More cleverness was obviously needed; there's not enough substance here for the picture to stay the course. ** from ****

"Pie in the Sky", an ill-focused, occasionally clumsy, and always good natured little romantic comedy, tells of a dauntless young man, Charlie (Charles), who is consumed with two things: Working as the "eye in the sky" for L.A.'s Metro Traffic (a traffic reporting bureau) and working on his relationship with his girl friend (Heche). There is as little to fault in this film as there is to praise making it recommendable by default but also keeping it from scoring high marks. An okay diversion for sofa spuds but not worth a trip to the video store. (C-)

Having worked for Metro Traffic (the organization whose LA office is featured in the film) for 20 years, I got I big chuckle out of Josh Charles' line, "After all, who wouldn't want to work for Metro Traffic."

If I remember correctly, producers of this film contacted our then-CEO David Saperstein about using the company in the film and he was glad to oblige. David and his wife, Suzanne, had recently been featured on "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous." The scenes at the Metro Traffic Control office in LA were actually filmed on location there and not a movie set. I've had fun over the past few years loaning my copy of this flick to fellow employees and noting their varied reactions.

I actually have encountered employees in this company who have the same obsession with traffic as Charles' character. And, thank goodness I'm not one of them. I have a real life.