The Terminal

Rating: 4/10 (2 October 2004)

Take a clue for "Being there". If you take a Tatiesque, deadpan approach to comedy, putting in some corny, off-putting drama story about the protagonist isn't gonna work. It feels like a betrayal, in fact. The first hour of this movie or so is very entertaining and, although it trusts way too much on its ability to get natural laughs from the audience (and it reiterates some "funny" situations too much), it still manages to create some hilarious moments with a great sense of pacing.
Then it goes horribly downhill. Victor Navorski starts learning English, and we discover that what he has to say is not interesting at all, in facts it reads like a deleted scene of "Forrest Gump". A romance with Catherine Zeta-Jones comes out of the blue, and we can foresee the "romantic comedy" strategies of delaying the kiss and having a convoluted and pointless discussion before the final reconciliation. So, it doesn't end in a happy hug. But that fact makes this subplot even more pointless.
So, if you ask me, it's a convoluted, poorly written and ill-conceived mess of a movie, with a few occasional comedic achievements.