WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The_Film_Cricket Macon has a profession that more or less mirrors his own personality. He writes travel books for people who hate to travel. Macon lives in a shell of emotional sterility following the death of his son and soon after, his marriage.One of his travel guide trips turns up Muriel Prichett (Geena Davis), an oddball, petshop owner who can see right through Macon's hard shell. But Muriel has complications too especially with the idea that her son needs a father. This movie will be a hard-fought journey.Macon breaks his leg and moves in with his brothers and sister. We can see right away where Macon developed some of his dullness. Porter and Rose are obsessive-compulsives who never leave the house, don't answer the phone and alphabetize the groceries on the shelf.A problem arises when Macon's wife asks him to give it another go. So he must make a choice, a free and happy life with Muriel or the comfortable armchair he once had in his marriage.'The Accidental Tourist' is first a movie about characters. Everyone here is drawn with loving care even if they tend to be frustrating (as are people in real life). Even as emotionally distant as Macon is, we know that there is a person in there, he just needs a way to pull it out. This is also a movie for grown-ups that may seem too leisurely paced for thrill seekers. You know who you are.

robert-temple-1 I decided to watch this film again after many years, and it impressed me more now than it did when it came out. It is a very sensitive film based upon a novel published in 1985 (of the same title) by the well-known American novelist Anne Tyler (born 1941), a denizen of Baltimore. The characters of this novel are also from Baltimore, which some regard as the Centre of the Earth, by which I refer primarily to those innocents who have not seen THE WIRE (2002, see my review). William Hurt gives one of his brilliant performances (which seem to come so naturally to him) as Macon Leary, an up-tight and hopelessly stuffy author of travel guides for Americans who do not like to leave America and wish to travel in their bubble, thus protecting themselves from all contaminating influences such as foreigners or even people from another city such as Philadelphia. But to give an idea of how hopeless an isolationist Leary is, we see him eating disgusting hamburgers at a Burger King in Paris, which he will in turn recommend to his readers. Leary will guide timorous Americans to Burger Kings and other such horrible places wherever they are in the world, so that they need never eat anything strange. In a voice-over in this film, he says of French restaurants and their menus of the day: 'Avoid Prix Fixe. It forces you to eat all those courses you don't want.' One presumes that Tyler is being gently satirical in inventing this character (let us hope he never really existed and is a caricature). Leary's series of books are called 'The Accidental Tourist', hence the title of the film. And as for Leary himself, he is an accidental tourist of Life. Meanwhile, Leary's accidentally toured life has been devastated by the death of his only son, and he has been savaged by grief. His wife, played by Kathleen Turner, leaves him at the beginning of the story to live in a separate flat and go her own way, as she says he has not yet come to terms with his grief and she can no longer live with him. Thus, he lives alone in his house with the most charming actor in the film, a dog called Bud, who plays the dog in the film. I would greatly like to have Bud come and live with me! However, as the film was made 26 years ago, perhaps he is no longer about. I like all dog films, and this to a larger extent than one might imagine is a dog film. It is Bud's lack of good behaviour which brings Leary into contact with the charmingly eccentric character Muriel (whom Leary later describes as 'that odd girl'), who is a dog trainer, and who becomes his romantic muse and saviour. This character is played by the wonderfully odd actress Geena Davis, one of my favourites. The film she made just before this one, in the same year, was EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY (1988, see my review), which I think of as one of the funniest films ever made, and Davis's central performance in it made it work. Never having met Davis, I can only presume that in order to play these wacky and offbeat characters to such perfection, she must be pretty odd herself. However, she rid herself of these anomalies when she played the President of the United States in the excellent TV series COMMANDER IN CHIEF (2005), in which her performance was, well, 'commanding', and it won her a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV drama. It is a great pity that the rather weird and wonderful Geena Davis has not made many more films than she has, but she won a well deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST, which shows that she has been appreciated by her peers (as do her countless other awards). She also resembles the goddess Diana (aka Artemis) in that she is an archery champion, and having been married four times, she clearly takes good aim at the heart. If she were ever to 'come up to see me sometime', I could show her my long bow which my grandfather lovingly carved out of lemonwood from South America because he said it had the best qualities (his idea being that he would be making the Stradivarius of long bows). No mere yew for him! Long bows are so much more romantic than etchings. Another excellent actress who appears in this film is Amy Wright, who does a brilliant job of portraying Leary's eccentric sister Rose. The film is essentially a study of people who 'don't fit'. Sometimes they don't fit in a good way and sometimes they don't fit in a bad way. So Tyler seems to be excavating the American psyche to find divergences from the norm, which is an important thing to do in a country where 'normality' ranks second only the 'the dollar' theologically speaking. This film was directed by the highly talented Lawrence Kasdan, who knows a good nuance when he sees one. And in this film we see plenty of them.

namashi_1 'The Accidental Tourist' is a Human-Drama, that is honest, unspoken & devastated. Accomplished Filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan delivers a film, that truly ranks amongst his best works to date, and his handling to this tough & gritty subject, is excellent. But, the Greatest Merit & Strength of 'The Accidental Tourist', is it's Lead-Star, Academy-Award Winner William Hurt, who's masterful performance, leaves you spell-bound. He delivers one of his finest performances in here. 'The Accidental Tourist' Synopsis: An emotionally distant writer of travel guides must carry on with his life after his son is killed and his marriage crumbles.'The Accidental Tourist' is a heart-felt, human-drama, that is honest, unspoken & yet devastated. The Journey of it's Protaganiost is filled with sadness, motivation & emptiness. The Adapted Screenplay by Kasdan himself, is moving & well-worded. Kasdan's direction, on the other-hand, is excellent & he makes each moment felt. Perofmance-Wise: As mentioned right from my summary, Hurt's performance is the greatest merit of this film. He delivers a performance, that can easily be credited as an embodiment. What Hurt achieves over-here, is "impossible" to pull off. In short, it's a performance that demands & deserves your utmost attention. Geena Davis, in an Oscar-Winning performance, is decent. Kathleen Turner is dependable. Amy Wright & Bill Pullman lend support. On the whole, If your a fan of Hurt, don't dare to miss this one. And even if your not a fan by a chance, yet don't dare to miss his masterful performance.

kenjha A writer of travel books must cope with the death of his young son and the ensuing divorce. This adaptation of the Tyler book is an excellent comedy-drama that incisively examines relationships and dealing with life's challenges. Hurt is quite good in expressing the pain of loss and separation, and he conveys so much through small gestures. As a quirky dog trainer, Davis is simply marvelous in an Oscar-winning performance. Turner has a relatively small and unsympathetic role but she makes the most of it. Wright, Stiers, Begley, and Pullman round out the excellent ensemble. The dog is a scene stealer. Kasdan's low-key, leisurely direction is perfectly suited to the material.