Life is like a can of Planters, especially when you're stuck in "The Terminal"

Rating: 8/10 (28 November 2004)

"The Terminal" opens up amidst the hustle and bustle of newly arrived international travelers as they wait in long lines to be processed onto American soil.
Tom Hanks plays one such traveler, a confused Eastern European named Viktor, who is unable to enter into the United States because a military coup in his fictional home country has rendered his passport and visa useless.
With little options (he's dubbed as a "crack in the system") and because he can't go into the U.S. nor can he go back to his country, he is forced to actually live within the confines of JFK airport's international lounge. (Given this shaky premise, it could easily have turned into a movie with too many so-so gags that play on the plight of foreign travelers.)
"The Terminal" plays on a note unlike many of Steven Spielberg's previous comedic efforts, a note that's actually quite funny. Spielberg, who also directed Hanks two years ago in "Catch Me If You Can," reuses some of the conventional comedic elements that were present in that movie.
Spielberg, like Hanks, seems casual and takes an Everyman approach to his material (which is somewhat sensitive, pending on your ideological bent about U.S. national security) in guiding his actors along this interesting ride through an airport terminal.
Tom Hanks is at an all-time great here (with a perfect Bulgarian accent too), playing the stranger in a strange land to perfection, and the thing about it is, he's not even really trying.
One sequence that I found to be particularly funny, is when Viktor returns airport baggage carts to the machines for quarters, and uses the change to pay for food and books. This also leads him to eventually land a job as an airport construction worker, so that he can impress a pretty flight attendant named Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones).
"The Terminal" is a funny, fun ride through and through.
8/10