The Accidental Tourist

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Release Date: 2004-06-01
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THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST

This movie shoulf be called the not so accicental tourist. Although the human acting is entertainining. The dog acting is more than entertaining. he steals the show in every scene he's in.

Acting, directing and screenplay at it's finest.

When I saw this film for the first time, I knew it was something special. It still holds every bit of that value and more so with every viewing of it.
Since then, I have always viewed this film as not only my all-time favorite, but also the defining example of what true art in in film is, for those of us that are not immediately thrilled by the glitz or shock of every Hollywood, and (sadly) even now non-Hollywood films have become.
This is a simple tale. But the acting make it a very deep film. William Hurt is amazing in not speaking so much, but instead using his expressions and emphasis on his words, making this the dialogue of the film, along with a great supporting cast. Everyone in this film is at their best. The direction from a great actor probably has something to do with that, and have seen Malkovich do such great things in his own acting.
This is one of those films that gets better every time you watch it. One expression you may have missed means so much.

I think this is an all-around great movie, but have heard some get bored with it. If you are into character study films, you will love it. If you are into modern Hollywood glitz, action and blockbuster you-know-what-I-mean movies, then you will hate it.

Whenever I am asked what I think is the best movie ever made, I still say this one is the finest example of what it's all about.

* * 1/2 - Not profound, just slooow

I first saw this movie in the theaters in 1988 and didn't really know what to make of it when the lights came on. Recently, older and, hopefully, wiser, I decided to revisit it. Again, I didn't really know what to make of it, this time when the DVD popped out.

This movie wants so hard to be deep. But it's really rather hokey. We don't get any indication why Muriel has the instant hots for William Mumble-Mumble Hurt. She seems to hit on him from the first mention that he's living alone. Is that what a sympathetic character is, a man-trap? After she practically sucks him into her house, she gets angry that he isn't completely reaccommodating his life for her. At the end, she follows him to Paris--shades of a stalker--but it's never explained how she knew he was precisely then going to Paris, what airline/flight he was taking, or where he was staying. The movie never explains these things because it can't. And the ending is just silly. What is there in the last scene to make her think his change is permanent? (I know, I know, she can "see it in his eyes." Yeah...) Frankly, I'm not sure what they see in each other, other than he's a source of income for her and her son, just as I never get the attraction between the book editor, played by a very young Bill Pullman, and Hurt's sister Rose. After being invited over for dinner Pullman is suddenly *nuts* about Rose, even though they're both duller than a PBS fundraiser. They don't seem to share one special on-screen moment, which makes them very similar to Hurt and Davis. Then there's buried resentment in the marriage between Hurt and Turner, but we never really see where it came from or why it's there. In one scene Turner asks him some relatively innocuous questions that make him explode with repressed rage, and the worried look on Turner's face is terrifically real. But earlier Davis had also set off his emotional trigger after a homemade dinner with some similar inquiries--so are we to believe a marriage with Davis would be any less bumpy?

There are some good performances here, particularly by Geena Davis and the dog. Hurt does his usual lost-in-space routine--worked best for me in The Big Chill--and Turner is all huffy-voiced and legs, sort of an 80s Lauren Bacall. (Sad what she's turned into lately.) But all this talk about depth and rich character and all that..sorry, it's trying too hard on too little story and too shallow character. John Williams contributes one of his better scores--for once, he's not smothering the movie in sentiment--and John Baily, who also worked with director Kasdan on The Big Chill, shoots it all very stylishly, with a great many scenes at twilight, as we'd expect. But somehow all the big names in the cast and crew fall flat for me.

As usual, Roger Ebert write a better review for this movie than the movie is itself. He's good at that.

Great movie but quite different from the book

I'm just writing this review to encourage people to read the book as well, since it's a much deeper, richer, view of Macon and Muriel than you see in the movie.

For example, a theme developed more fully in the book is the theme that Macon is a happier, more functional person with Muriel than he is with Sarah. There are always neighbors and Muriel's family coming in and out of her row house in the book, and they all think Macon is a real softie. He takes care of stuff for them, buys them pizza, is always gentle. Sarah thinks he is cold and withdrawn. While he's with Muriel, Macon starts to see himself as a warm, loving, competent person.

Muriel's portrayal is a bit different in the book, where she is definitely working class, with her spiked heels and dyed hair. I think in the movie she is portrayed almost as a cross between working class and hippie. She is also more competent in the movie. In the book it's clear she is hanging on by her fingernails, working three or four jobs at a time, loving her son but not knowing how to take very good care of him. It takes Macon to get her son to start feeling more confident and able to do things. So while in the movie it seems it is Muriel who is the strong one who coaxes Macon back to life, it's clearer in the book that it is a two way street. And it's Macon's care of Muriel that makes him functional again, as much as her care of him.

So do enjoy the movie, but give the book a try as well.

Don't listen to the critical revue by Marshall Fine...

He's obviously a moron who must have watched the film half drunk. For proof of this, he states in his review that the main character, Macon -played by William Hurt- buys his dog, Edward, after his son's death and his divorce for companionship. If you watch the movie sober and with at least one eye open, it clearly shows that the dog belonged to his son and that's why Macon doesn't want to get rid of it even after it bites him, because Edward, the dog, is the last connection he has to his son. So don't let an unprofessional hack like Marshall Fine or other reviewers with questionable taste steer you away from this wonderful film. It delivers the perfect balance of comedy, drama, and romance with an amazing musical score by John Williams.

Product Description

The methodical life of a travel writer is upset when his son dies and his wife leaves him, until he takes up with a dog trainer.

Amazon.com essential video

Lawrence Kasdan adapted Anne Tyler's novel into this mopey comedy which, oddly enough, took the New York Film Critics Circle's best picture award (a case of strategic voting getting out of hand). William Hurt plays a depressed travel writer struggling to come to terms with his son's death. He buys a dog for companionship, then hires an eccentric dog trainer (Geena Davis, who won an Oscar for her role) to teach it to behave. She, in turn, teaches him to reconnect to life. But as he is beginning to admit his feelings for her to himself, he is blindsided by the return of his estranged wife (Kathleen Turner), who attempts to rekindle their marriage. A muffled, low-key affair--so low-key that it sometimes seems positively stationary. --Marshall Fine
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