Good heart, poorly executed

Rating: 4/10 (29 November 2004)

This is a movie that must have seemed good on paper, with all kinds of warm, human messages and morals. They're all there, and quite obvious. Way too obvious.
No, this is not a cynical review, it's a disappointed one. The movie's tempo is meandering, the characters are all two-dimensional and clichéd (including Hanks'). There is no satisfying denouement or crescendo -- it's almost a mood piece.
While we like Hanks well enough, he comes across as almost a simpleton. His legal limbo and the tension and plot development it brings strains credulity and leaves so many questions unanswered, the work goes from fiction to cartoon.
This film in the hands of these artists could have been genius, I'm sure. But it's sophomoric instead. It could be the work of a beginning film class at NYU.