A Sappy Hollywood Tale

Rating: 6/10 (15 April 2020)

The good: lighting, sets and costumes were absolutely first rate. It's actually quite rare these days for all three to be excellent. Unfortunately Tom Hanks as a Slavic character wasn't very convincing. His accent wasn't bad, but he didn't quite nail the cynical and slightly paranoid Slavic mentality. The pseudo-love story with Catherine Zeta-Jones was contrived and hardly believable.
The airport terminal surroundings looked terrific, but no way would someone in the pre-security lounge be allowed into the secure baggage handling area, even in 2004. Tucci was great as the petty and mean border security official Dixon, but it's a mystery why they assigned an Anglo-Saxon name to an ethnic Italian actor. Overall the movie was ok for killing time, but is unremarkable Hollywood fluff. Not worthy of repeat viewing.