A very much needed schmaltzy excursion.

Rating: 7/10 (28 April 2018)

When somebody says they're a visiting tourist upon arrival in an airport, is there ever really need for them to explain their itinerary to a complete stranger?
As long as they don't have any bombs strapped on them or they're not gonna unleash a deadly virus or don't plan to do mass killings, smuggle drugs, commit unspeakable horrors etc. in the destination country, why bother stating their reasons for visiting? Unless they are a market research company trying to survey the traveler, people will gladly accommodate that. There are people who don't want to hold up the queue, and there are some things that cannot be explained in a short paragraph (including my simple APPROVAL for this film), and not to mention the variations in people's communication skills. As long those visitors are willing to return home, it's none of people's biscuits whatever they do there that's conforms to whatever in the tourist destination is acceptable and LEGAL. Or people could just easily lie and say they're going to whatever is that country's equivalent of a Disney World.
Mr. Speilberg and Mr. Hanks in the early-noughties have reached the point in their careers where they have already acquired artistic gravitas. For Mr. Hanks, having escaped being typecast as a actor doing just light and screwball comedic roles, and Mr. Spielberg for breaking away from just being labeled as a giga-blockbuster sell-out film director (not that there is anything wrong with that). Given it is the time in history where the US has just been involved in a full-blown war in the Middle East, not to mention, post-9/11 era, for them to collab in a cutesy but sappy drama/comedy involving a creepy old-ish-man-child-ish (perhaps just naive) having the exuberance of 12-year-old discovering unfamilar things for him for the first time, the audience would still be beholden to their effort, a much-needed optimistic escapist fare.
But as far as Mr. Hanks is concerned, I hope this is the last of such comedic roles for him (Unless he would find it an acting challenge to up the ante in the cringe-inducing comedic schtick department, I would definitely not go check that one if ever that should happen). His take on the bumbling erudite prof wannabe crook in Coen Bros' laugh-out-loud The Ladykillers remake is him having a more matured comedic persona, and the one I kind of enjoy and prefer.
And for Mr. Spielberg, it's obvious that this film could have been passed over to a less-experienced director but chose to do it himself perhaps as contribution to his country during the trying times, a gift to his fans all over the world, a straightforward film with absurdist undertones. Even at the risk of sounding like a suck-up, I'd still say that even though the film is based on the experiences of a real-life character who got paid for the rights to use their story, the decision of opting not to use the guy's real name and chosing instead to use a fictitious version of the person facing the same sticky situation showed remarkable prudence on the part of filmmakers.
The airport set used is in the film is just spectacular. Never been into one (yet), but that film kind of raised the bar to what people's expectations of what an airport should look like, I guess. Other actors involved in the film: Tucci, Zeta-Jones, and others were splendid and enjoyable to watch in quite a decent and wholesome sincere film.
--B-flat--