The Plot

Failing businessman, Alan (Tom Hanks) looks to recoup his losses by traveling to Saudi Arabia and selling his idea to a wealthy monarch.

The Good

Beginning with Hanks performing the opening lines of Talking Heads’ ‘Once In A Lifetime’ in a strange fourth wall breaking dream/commercial sequence, writer/director Tom Tykwer sets up his adaptation of David Eggers’ novel as an unusual film. For the most part though, A Hologram For The King is much more compelling than it’s trailers suggest. Tom Hanks clearly has fun in his role as struggling salesman, Alan. Having had a brief encounter years earlier involving an awkwardly delivered fish joke, Alan is packed off to Saudi Arabia to close a potentially career-boosting deal with the king. But, as optimistic as Alan stays, the trip doesn’t seem to be quite as smooth sailing as he had hoped.

Sleeping in and missing the morning bus to the undeveloped plot of land that doesn’t appear to be moving forward much, Alan soon meets Yousef (Alexander Black), a personal driver who fears an upcoming assassination upon him from a scorned husband, prompting him to have to rewire his car engine to make sure no bombs have been planted. It’s this kind of quirky humour that gives the film a fun feeling while also managing to stay grounded with serious subplots involving Alan’s messed up home life. While he manages to escape his irksome ex-wife, a worrying bump on his back soon starts to become more troubling.

Even when the film moves towards the traditional underlying love story, Tykwer manages to refrain from making it an embarrassing mix of genre defining awkwardness between Hanks and his female doctor, Zahra (Sarita Choudhury). The mix of two different cultures clashing together has been seen and done enough times by now but Tykwer ensures it never feels like we’re not looking down on the culturally different approach to romance or belittling it in any way.

The Bad

The only slight misgiving this film does is in it’s casting of Lewis Rainer as young Tom Hanks. Having been a part of cinema history since probably before he was Rainer’s age, it does feel slightly jarring to have Rainer pop up and try to convince us he is Hanks in his prime. With Hanks’ own son, Colin already an actor and at the right age for it, he would have been a much better choice for the small role.

The Ugly Truth

Tykwer manages to find a perfect balance between humour and drama with the help of a great cast. Chaudhury and Hanks play off each other seamlessly while Alexander Black injects some well placed lightness in a slow revealing script which brings some darkness along the way.

Review by Johnny Ellis