Another McMovie

Rating: 5/10 (26 December 2004)

Despite the cast and crew, this is just another movie. There's a leading man, a leading lady, and a whole cast of those adorable, quirky characters. Feh...
Against my better judgement I thought I'd take a chance on this one for Christmas evening, but was sorely disappointed. I thought Hanks did an adequate job of portraying an eastern European lost in the bureaucracy of immigration paperwork. But the story was sort of ill-conceived, Walt Disneyesque, made-for-T.V. tripe.
The story - or what there is of one - is overly contrived. It's studded with one-dimensional, cardboard cut-out characters (Tucci's downright irrational, "mean-old-airport-security-guy" in particular), and leaves enough loose ends to make you wonder if the story is over at all. What happens to the brave Gupta?, the disobedient security staff?, the utterly unbelievable "I just can't find a decent man, even though I'm drop-dead gorgeous" flight attendant? Why doesn't the head security guy know what's in Hanks' peanut can? I guess it doesn't matter. Hanks got his autograph, so all's right with the world now.
Half-baked...