Shaking the Tree is a 1990 American comedy-drama film directed by Duane Clark, starring Arye Gross, Gale Hansen, Doug Savant and Steven Wilde.
Cast
Arye Gross as Barry
Gale Hansen as John "Sully" Sullivan
Doug Savant as Michael
Steven Wilde as Terry "Duke" Keegan
Courteney Cox as Kathleen
Christina Haag as Michelle
Michael Arabian as Nickel
Dennis Cockrum as Bannelli
Nathan Davis as Grandpa Sullivan
Ron Dean as Duke's Father
Brittney Hansen as Brigette
Turk Muller as Ape
Ned Schmidtke as Mr. Jack
Maurice Chasse as Cashier
Mik Scriba as Tony Villanova
Barbara Robertson as Nurse
Kirk Thatcher as Craps Player
Reception
Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that the "flaw at the heart" of the film was the "improbability of such cross sections of humanity ever cohering in real life."
Roger Ebert of RogerEbert.com rated the film 0.5 stars out of 4 and wrote, "The characters and their problems are both so cliched that it makes you wonder if the filmmakers had ever seen a movie before; didn't they realize how stunningly unoriginal, how worn out and overused, this material was?"
Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times called the film "yet another Diner wannabe".