Summary: As an air traffic controller in New York, Nick "the zone" Falzone (John Cusack), is considered the best in the business and he knows it. Nick is in charge of the hectic, constantly busy control room until a quiet southwesterner, Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton) arrives on the scene along with his wife, played by Jolie. This duo does not exactly fit into the tight community of controllers and their spouses and a rivalry quickly develops.
Review: Angelina is sinful and scintillating in her performance as Billy Bob Thornton's manic and neurotic wife. The film focuses on the rivalry between two air traffic controllers, played by Thornton and John Cusack. They go head to head over work performance and their wives. Billy Bob is in the lead in this cat and mouse game that ensues between himself and Cusack's character.
One thing Cusack does score is a one-night stand with Jolie's character. But she only does it to fill the void that is left when her husband takes off for one of his characteristic disappearances. She is so obsessively in love with him that she needs to occupy her mind while he is gone, even if that means banging someone else.
Most of the scenes in which Angelina appears involve her gazing in adoration at Billy Bob and caressing him in earnest. The scene that struck me the most has her character standing alone in an aisle in the supermarket. She is crying and standing over her carriage -- which is empty except for a few gallon jugs of vodka. Cusack's character plays the opportunist, taking advantage of the moment to hit on her. Angelina pulls it off convincingly. Again, she is able to play the role of a complicated woman with many emotional layers exquisitely. In this role, she demonstrates her talent by reaching deep into herself to pull off this complex woman.
Guessing this to be the time period in which Jolie actually met and fell for BB (in reality, before marrying him and carrying around vials of his blood on her neck), we see she didn't need to pull so deep inside herself to perfect the adoring gazes she is seen giving him throughout.
