Sweet, tear-jerker that sums up Hanks' performances

Rating: 7/10 (24 November 2004)

Tom Hanks is known as the character-actor that brings out the kid in us through his performances on screen, and this movie is no exception. Hanks plays a foreign visitor from Krakozhia, which happens to not be recognized by the U.S. government at the time due to war in the country. Because the country is not recognized, he cannot get a visa into the U.S., so Hanks is forced to sleep in the terminal of this New York airport until further information is gathered for him. He meets people who work in the airport and tries to get a job when he finds a girl who steals his heart and leads him on a path of discovery in the American culture of work and friendship.
This is a sweet movie, like most of Hanks', with a lot of endearing moments for his character when you see his willingness to stay and change with his surroundings. I think some people saw this as a political film, largely because of the specific laws involved with releasing foreign visitors to the U.S. soil, and the timing to put this movie out after all of the talk of war, elections, and trusts being juggled around was a bit controversial. I loved the idea of showing how much trust to give this man and allowing him to stay in a terminal instead of locking him up for actions that he never made against anyone.
The movie looses touch with reality (making this a great sob-film by tugging at the IL' heart-strings) when it gets around the end, and all this man wants to do is one simple thing and then wants to leave the city. That didn't really appeal to me. And, as great as Catherine Zeta Jones was in this film, Jones had almost uncanny expressions like those used by Meg Ryan in all of the movies the her and Hanks were known for. That felt a bit eerie, I must say.
Overall, I gave the pretty typical vote of 7/10 (like most are giving it at this time of writing this) for the sweetness, timing, acting, and originality. Definitely rent this now that it is on DVD (although don't expect much from the special features right away...the copy I have doesn't have that many.)