Weak comedy

Rating: Null/10 (28 July 2004)

The general plot is outlined in another comment so we can forgo that here. Let's just say that it is not Tom Hank's best effort but that is probably not his fault.
The premise stretches the limits of credulity. While this is not uncommon in this genre, I found myself unable to "suspend disbelief" for more than 4 or 5 minutes in a stretch. Hank's character teaches himself English from a book shoplifted from Borders (in a single evening, it would appear). The Homeland Security supervisor is unable to interest any agency in holding him and apparently his own department has no such facilities either. The airport in which Hanks finds himself stranded is JFK but all the people are surprisingly friendly, cordial, and respectful of others (remember the taxicab dispatcher in Sleepless in Seattle? "Why don't you get a little farther from the curb, mack?". Now that's New York). And so on.
My biggest complaint, though, is the length. With a running time of over two hours, it became tedious. The director could have made it both better and shorter by eliminating the pointless romance that went nowhere and benefited neither party.