An unfunny premise, lots of errors

Rating: 1/10 (27 February 2005)

When I had heard that a movie was coming out about a immigrant trapped in an airport terminal due to bureaucracy, I was intrigued. My reaction was, "how could this be made interesting or funny"? An airport is such a sterile environment, what could the writers create over 90 minutes that would be funny? I was right. The movie was a bore. Millions of dollars were spent to recreate a sterile environment.
The writers use the premise that immigration waits, paperwork, and airport security are funny. Let me tell you, my friends it is not funny & you have to wonder that maybe the "evil" Federal bureaucracy sweats out every day trying to make sure that threats to society do not make it into the United States of America. This is not comedy material, in my humble opinion.
Now about the errors. Catherine Zeta-Jones, as the Flight Attendant,love interest is far too glamorous to have to fawn over the Tom Hanks character. In real life, a woman of that physical attractiveness & intelligence could pick & choose who she wanted. She would never be desperate.
How about Tom Hank's accent & how fast he learned English. Was he taking a speed reading/speaking course that not only taught him to speak English but to learn the alphabet specifically since he was used to the Cyrillic alphabet in Eastern Europe. Can you imagine what a laugher this would be to Eastern Europeans? It is a transparent situation.
Finally, you have to wonder why would Spielberg & Hanks lend their names to this movie. Have you have ever bought an appliance, computer, or car that was a brand name but learned that the quality or product had changed. People love Spielberg and Hanks, this is a product that they should not have had a connection to & would have been a movie for TV not on the big screen.