A really charming film with a slight dig at the US's protectionist policy and our assumptions. It survives Spielberg's sentimentality overdose but watching the failed scenes with Jones is almost painful (spo

Rating: Null/10 (26 September 2004)

I decided to give this film a go even though I knew it had under performed at the box office in America and had been labeled a 'flop' by some critics.
I sat to watch it not sure what to expect but I was pretty much totally won over by it which, considering how very anti-mush I am, is actually quite an achievement. The plot is very simple and it relies totally on us feeling a little bit warm and forgiving  a feeling that the film does well to give to us in an opening hour that is relentlessly charming and amusing. Some viewers will be annoyed by a fragmented feel to the story that, at points, seems to lack a drive but it is the sort of thing that just glides forward slickly and, for that reason, Spielberg was probably the best man for the job. His excessive mush comes through in the love at first sight between Torres and Enrique  for most of their thread it is charming and sweet and hopeful. However Spielberg cannot cope with just ending their story with a meeting and hope, no, he has to go from nothing to marriage in the space of a few seconds in an embarrassing 'Star Trek' moment (and guys; women this hot do not spend all their time at Star Trek conventions  sorry).
I found it annoying but luckily this was only one scene but Spielberg also misjudges an entire thread that just doesn't work at all  the romance between Amelia and Viktor. I feared that it would be used as a big happy ending and, I suppose, am glad it wasn't  but then why bother with it in the first place? If it worked well then it would be a good thread around the others but for the most part it doesn't. Sadly, the main reason is fails is Jones herself. She is pretty, but she is also awful here. She has almost no chemistry with Hanks and she cannot do anything with her character  the moment where her boyfriend goes to a barbecue instead of seeing her didn't convince me at all and just looked like someone unconvincingly pretending to be upset. Later, a moment of honesty with Viktor on the balcony is delivered with no heart but a lot of blinking and eyelid fluttering. It is a shame because I liked the way the film didn't cash in for the big happy ending, but it just didn't work and since it was only a small part of the film, it should have been cut out completely.
Despite this, the rest of the cast are really good. Hanks could have just been absurd with his accent but he pulled it off and convinced me enough to do the job in this type of film. He works well in every scene and it is only the scenes with Jones where I got the impression that he was banging his head against a brick wall. He overdoes the 'big huggable bear' routine a bit too much but it fits with the mood of the film, which itself is a big lovable, huggable thing. Tucci is a nice foil for Hanks and their battle of wills is the thread that holds the whole premise together; he is mean without being beyond redemption or overly cruel, pulling it off that we don't hate him, we understand he is holding to the importance of the rules. Support is generally very good even if their characters are really too 'nice' to convince me that they could exist in real life! Luna overdoes the sweet Hispanic role but is still fitting; Saldana is gorgeous as ever and is really nice in a role that only asks her to slowly melt to be sweetly vulnerability! Pallana is really funny and gets the mindset of labourers pretty well; his reward is a key role in an overblown (but moving) moment that was such a good image I'm sure it will stick in my mind for ages.
The film also makes a point in response to security tightening around immigration and airports  it is a gentle point and I would hesitate to even suggest it were strong enough to be called 'criticism'. The message is to try and look at the people coming to America  they are not all terrorists, benefit spongers, criminals and so on; they are people and deserve a compassion that recent events have shown perhaps doesn't exist to the degree that it could. The film doesn't labour this point and I think many people may not even have noticed it. The point is that we can show compassion to people without the world ending, but that we still need controls (note that Viktor does not stay  even if that would have made a 'happier' ending). The character of Viktor also works as a challenge. We start with him as just a foreigner who speaks little English and is a bit clueless but is developed to the point that we accept him as a person and not on our first impressions: a challenge to the unofficial 'profiling' view of current immigration policies, but not so strong as to suggest scrapping what is in place  just humanising it. Finally, the film reminds us that not everybody in the world actually wants to come and live in the US and chase the American Dream; Viktor's final action in the film? To head home.
Overall I really enjoyed this film. It is overly sentimental, flawed and relies on you being totally in the mood for it but it easily won me over. Not a film to watch if you are in a very cynical mood about anything but one that is fun, warming and sweet but also has interesting things to say. The US box office may not say it, but this is a great film.