Anyone see it?

Rating: Null/10 (2 August 2004)

Spoiler Sure did. Tom Hanks is probably, toe for toe, the greatest actor that ever lived. If I was a gal, I'd probably sleep with him. Though, sleeping probably wouldn't be a key factor.
As for the film and the character Hanks plays, it's got a sappy structure with out-of-this-world rare necessities. Case in point: A pretty hawt Flight Attendant. However, potential case inside the point: I've never flown United Airlines. I guess there's an exclusive mystique to it, then.
Hank's character, Victor, is written well; though there are a few contradictions served up only to produce several retarded gags. He's not a fish outta water entirely, but a fish in an entirely new tank. When first faced with the changes of his environment and confines of his new prison (because his homeland in Eastern Europe is under hostile takeover); he scatters up the escalator. No, not the escalator with people coming DOWN; the escalator for going up. Just because he hasn't grasped a strong enough hold around the English language doesn't mean he can't tell the difference being going up and going down. He doesn't fall for tricks that involve leaving the airport. When some schmuck in Airport Security tries to not make Victor HIS problem and insists on Victor to leave the airport to be mugged, taken advantage of, or arrested; Victor pretty much is left staring at the exit doors until he's reached the decision that it's not safe to leave. Is that smell does not mistake me: I'd say that this is kind of an achievement in film making, if you ask me. Well, almost.
The character, however, is manipulated thanks to a few contradictions. Realizing that he must seduce his love-interest of a flight attendant, Amelia (Catherine Zeta Jones), Victor looks for a job in the airport. With many shops located throughout the International Lounge Terminal in JFK Airport, Victor chooses one store... then another, then another, then another. It's not the contradiction that Victor is now DUMB enough to tell the truth to store managers about where he lives ("..Did you say 'GATE 67'?"), or the fact he's actually reluctant about getting a job. Maybe it's his over-jovial actions. When the manager of a store asks for his phone number, he immediately has the idea of using the number of a pay phone RIGHT outside the store. Not before turning around and running right smack into the store's display window (BECAUSE IT'S CLEAR. HA. HE THOUGHT IT WAS AN OPENING), Victor actually waits around all day and night at the payphone to receive the verdict on whether or not he's hired. The call comes, with the store manager standing right in front of the same window Victor came lips to lips with, holding the phone. Victor proceeds to pick up the ringing receiver on the pay phone, and proceeds to hold a conversation. Yet, he remains unaware that the pay phone is right in front of the store, and yeah: the manager knows he's full of it. When told someone has already been hired for the job, Victor is just tired and ready to hit the hay. All the stores are being closed at this time, and before Victor returns to Gate 67; he runs to the nearest bathroom in dying need to take a leak.
And yes, he accidentally runs into the Women's Room.
And yes, a woman is heard screaming.
Ah well.
A pretty decent supporting cast with Kumar Pallana as Gupta help mold the character that is Victor into a rare oddity that is never seen in films, these days. He's not an idiot, despite Spielberg's attempt to lay bear traps for him to clumsily trip over. It doesn't hurt the character, however, that he's still looked at like an ordinary man with goals, dreams, and promises to keep. He's an oddity to the audience (running into windows, into the Women's bathroom), until the end of the film. He's not here to WOW the city of New York, or to fall in love. Hence, the ending (which is great) isn't him marrying the flight attendant or him reaching the top floor of the Empire State Building. It's him fulfilling a promise he made to himself, and returning home.
3 OJ Mugshots out of four.