Good, but it could have been better...

Rating: 7/10 (3 February 2001)

The narrative is just fine and Tom Hanks is wonderful as usual. The film fails in structure. All too often frame stories fail somewhere along the line. Either the frame is stronger than the middle, or, as in this case, the middle is stronger than the frame story. The beginning and end could have been reshaped or deleted and the story would have been all the better for it. The frame feels tacked on almost. As I watched it, I felt as if i were watching a great film just screaming to be let out of this miserable structure. And I am of the opinion that if you are going to cast Helen Hunt, you don't waste her time and ours by only using her for a 30 minute role. She is too wonderful an actress for such a minor and thankless role.