Feels disingenuous and dogmatic.
The Terminal (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:195
Fresh:118
Rotten:77
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: Tom Hanks and the rest of the amiable cast make this bumpy ride worth sitting through.
Runtime: 2 hrs 9 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Academy Award® winners Tom Hanks ("Philadelphia," "Forrest Gump") and Catherine Zeta-Jones ("Chicago") star in "The Terminal," under the direction of Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Steven... Academy Award® winners Tom Hanks ("Philadelphia," "Forrest Gump") and Catherine Zeta-Jones ("Chicago") star in "The Terminal," under the direction of Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg ("Schindler’s List," "Saving Private Ryan"). "The Terminal" tells the story of Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks), a visitor to New York from Eastern Europe, whose homeland erupts in a fiery coup while he is in the air en route to America. Stranded at Kennedy Airport with a passport from nowhere, he is unauthorized to actually enter the United States and must improvise his days and nights in the terminal’s international transit lounge until the war at home is over. As the weeks and months stretch on, Viktor finds the compressed universe of the terminal to be a richly complex world of absurdity, generosity, ambition, amusement, status, serendipity and even romance with a beautiful flight attendant named Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones). But Viktor has long worn out his welcome with airport official Frank Dixon, who considers him a bureaucratic glitch, a problem he cannot control but wants desperately to erase. "The Terminal" also stars Emmy winner Stanley Tucci (TV’s "Winchell," "Road to Perdition") as Frank Dixon. Rounding out the main cast are Chi McBride (TV’s "Boston Public"), Diego Luna ("Y Tu Mama, Tambien"), Barry "Shabaka" Henley ("Ali"), Kumar Pallana ("The Royal Tenenbaums"), Zoë Saldana ("Drumline"), Eddie Jones ("Seabiscuit") and Jude Ciccolella ("Down With Love"). Walter F. Parkes ("Catch Me If You Can"), Steven Spielberg and Laurie MacDonald ("The Ring") are producing "The Terminal," with Patricia Whitcher, Jason Hoffs and Andrew Niccol serving as executive producers. The screenplay is by Sacha Gervasi and Jeff Nathanson from a story by Niccol. [More]
Starring: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Chi McBride
Starring: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Chi McBride, Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, Barry Shabaka Henley
Director: Steven Spielberg
Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenwriter: Sacha Gervasi, Jeff Nathanson
Producer: Steven Spielberg, Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald
Composer: John Williams
Studio: DreamWorks Distribution LLC
Reviews for The Terminal
The Terminal is so beautifully directed, so pleasurable to watch and so thoughtfully put together, it's a disappointment when you realize, halfway through, that the movie is going to fall way short of a masterpiece.
Steven Spielberg wants to make you smile ... which should be all the warning you need to avoid this troubled film in the same way you might avoid the airport on Thanksgiving weekend.
This may not be a great movie, but it may prove a great feel-good balm to many.
This skillfully constructed saga of sentimentality is the falsest movie of the year.
An occasionally inspired, somewhat confused, utterly watchable film featuring some of the biggest stars in Hollywood.
Tedious, insincere malarkey that wants badly to play on emotions it's not capable of generating itself.
Like so many of Spielberg's films, it's the dream of a brilliant child, and a lovely place to tarry before returning to adulthood.
With a big assist from Hanks, Spielberg takes nothing and turns it into a charming something.
Tom Hanks woos Catherine Zeta-Jones and Kumar Pallana spins plates...good times.
Hanks ... is the perfect actor for this role, balancing the absurdist humor and heartbreak of Viktor's predicament and adding his own considerable good nature.
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