Good but incomplete

Rating: 5/10 (25 March 2005)

As a movie about waiting, perseverance, hope (bringing a question from Enrique to Torres everyday) and friendship it is great , but the romantic angle is misleading and disappointing. I loved the three friends and how they bond. But why bring Catherine Zeta-Jones into the picture? A romance is developed and then it goes nowhere, just like the past relationships of her character. What did she do for him? Get him the one day emergency visa? And was it worth it? Because Dixon denies it to him by blackmailing him with his friendship to the people who helped him. It's his friends who turn it around for him (Gupta delaying the plane), and Dixon's own staff (which he turned against himself by being such a legalist) -- his top guy gives him his coat to go out in the snow. Who were the marketing gurus that let this ending happen? What audiences want is the "happily ever after" scenario -- don't mess with the formula if you're in the romantic genre; otherwise, leave romance out of it.