mix of serious and light comedy

Rating: 6/10 (29 November 2014)

Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks) from Krakozhia arrives in JFK. He speaks limited English and has limited understanding. Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci) tells him that his country has just had a coup and the US has revoked his visa. Viktor is a stateless man with no status. Dixon can't allow him to enter the country but he can't detain him either. Dixon allows him to move freely in the international transit lounge. However the temporary situation turns into a long running saga. Dixon is getting promoted. He tries to get Viktor to leave on his own. Viktor befriends various people. He meets flight attendant Amelia Warren (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and pretends to be a frequent traveler.
This is an uncomfortable mix of serious and light-hearted. The whole thing just strikes me as being fake. It starts with the fake country. Then there is Tom Hanks faking an accent. His English is conveniently bad when the movie needs it to be but good enough whenever the movie wants. Also there is the fake setup. There may be a heart-warming funny indie film here somewhere but it needs an unknown to play this role. The story has some serious stuff but the light comedy really whitewashes it. Director Steven Spielberg is probably not the right guy for this film and Hanks is too recognizable. I don't want to be a Scrooge and hate on this light comedy. Most of it doesn't work for me. Spielberg is such a master filmmaker that he squeezes some heart-wrenching moments as well as some light comedy out of it.