THE TERMINAL

Director: Steven Spielberg (More hits than I can list ...)
Starring: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta Jones, Stanley Tucci

A few years ago Tom Hanks held together "Cast Away" despite not having any significant dialogue for nearly an hour. Here he tries again, although with somewhat less success. In the former film, Hanks was trapped on a desert island, fighting for survival, and it was fascinating. In this film he's a traveler from some silly-sounding made-up country, trapped in JFK airport for months due to a series of beauracratic mishaps. It's not nearly as interesting. The two main problems with this film are the excess of absurdity and the lack of compelling moments. This schmuck from Eastern Europe convinces a hot stewardess who he meets only a few times to fall in love with him? Absurd. This schmuck from Eastern Europe tries to get a job at Sbarro? Boring. Yes, there is thematic material here about Immigrants' status in America, but it's very poorly done. Hanks character isn't even an immigrant! He's just some guy visiting the US. Despite all of the these problems, Speilberg and Hanks still have enough talent to create interest with the weakest material. A pretty bad movie is turned into a pretty decent movie entirely due to them.

Standouts: Tom Hanks, a great, compelling movie star. Cutsie direction by Spielberg.
Blowouts: That same cutsie direction tended to get annoying after a while.

Grade: B