It’s Man Vs. Car in NYC and Tim Robbins is “The Rectifier”

by Aaron Naparstek on May 15, 2008


Granted, I always secretly hoped that Tom Hanks would play the Aaron Naparstek role in "Honku: The Movie" but Tim Robbins' new film "Noise" is, without question, the early runner-up for Streetsblog's 2008 Movie of the Year:

David (Oscar-winner and New York City resident Tim Robbins) is a successful lawyer who can’t stand the fact that Manhattan is a place where it’s too noisy to get a good night’s sleep, listen to classical music, or even make love to his wife without disturbance. Every time David hears a car alarm going off, he swings into action. Adopting the guise of “The Rectifier,” he engages in acts of vandalism that satisfy him immensely but which generate no end of grief from his wife (Bridget Moynahan). They also make him politically controversial when he provokes the ire of the city’s arrogant mayor (Oscar-winner William Hurt).

Best of all, "Noise" offers up the most concise and accurate summary of NYPD traffic enforcement policy I've ever seen:

"You don't come when the car is attacking us, only when we're attacking the car."

-- Tim Robbins to New York City police officer.