The Accidental Tourist | | Cast : | William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Geena Davis | | Director : | Lawrence Kasdan | | Studio : | Warner Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | December 23, 1988 | | DVD Released Date : | June 01, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | April 04, 2005 | | Summary | His mind is on vacation | Content
 | William Hurt is Macon, a travel book writer for those who'd rather stay home; he is a creature of habit and repressed feelings. His wife (Kathleen Turner) leaves him (their son has died), and Hurt mopes around, settling nicely into the void that's been created. Then he meets Muriel (Geena Davis), the single mother dog trainer/groomer, who falls for him and tries to shake him out of the doldrums. He resists, even takes up with his wife again, but Davis follows him to Europe and finally wins him there.
The major problem is with Hurt: he acts as if he's in a comatose state all the time; in the novel that this was based on (same name), he was quirky and humorously obsessive - none of that is in the movie. And it's a great loss; one wants more from him than this single dimmension only. In fact, the whole picture could do with a little messing up: it's all so refined and calculated. [Love that ending, though.] |
| Rating | | | Date | March 07, 2005 | | Summary | Thought-Provoking, Slow-Paced Conflicted Romance | Content
| THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST has some of the most interesting dialogue ever heard in a film about relationships. The story begins when Macon Leary, a travel writer played by William Hurt, comes home to find his wife, Sarah, (played by Kathleen Turner) wants a divorce. This marriage has endured almost unbearable strain after the death of their only son, and Macon's coping strategy is to strive to keep things as they are. When Macon's welsh corgi becomes bad-tempered and starts to bite, Macon can't stand the thought of parting with the dog that was his son's childhood companion. Macon is forced to rely on others when he breaks his leg and moves in with his sister and brothers, and the movie really picks up momentum when he meets a sparkling divorcee dog trainer named Muriel Pritchett (played by Geena Davis). Muriel has her eyes on Macon Leary from the first moment she sees him, when she begins a long campaign to win this world-weary man over and bring joy back into his life. When Sarah finds out that Macon is seeing another woman, she has a change of heart about finalizing the divorce, and seeks a reconciliation. Macon's choice then becomes one of maintaining the status quo or navigating his way through uncertain yet exciting territories with someone new.
Both the acting and the dialogue in THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST are first-rate and highly memorable. Geena Davis steals the show with her shining performance of a quirky, life-positive divorced single mom with a single-minded interest in helping Macon Leary to become more than a reluctant sight-seer in life. My favorite line of dialogue in this dialogue-driven film is when Macon says to Sarah, "I'm beginning to think that maybe it's not just how much you love someone, maybe what matters is who you are when you're with them." I've contemplated this concept for years, and been continually inspired by it's significance.
While this film may be considered slow-moving and somewhat sad, it ultimately delivers an uplifting and inspirational message of hope. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 30, 2005 | | Summary | The Armchair Traveller | Content
| William Hurt + an allstar cast star in this character study of an overly methodical divorcee and his profession on who traveling buisness men can make their trips as dull as his life is.Seen the movie?You'll understand my review then because I'll speak directly about the characters.Macon (Hurt) and his astranged wife Sarah have lost their only son to a horrible murder and have grown apart.His siblings live in a house together and live a comically over-organized life.Meanwhile Macon is pursued by his BEYOND pushy dog trainer Murial Prichett and is forced to make a serious choice-between his ex with whom his relationship is always tenative or the fresh faced (but I should point out obviously younger) Murial.He chooses the later,if only for the reason she followed him on a trip to Paris (where they end up eating at a Buger King.????).
And as pushy and quirky as she is one actually tends to relate more to Geena Davis's Murial character.Macon Leary comes off as too controlled and insensative and his wife has lost faith in the world due to her loss.The side characters include Macon's
hyper organised sister Rose and her relationship with his eccentric boss Julian (portrayed by Bil Pullman) who proceeds to eat two helpings of Rose's highly undercooked turkey at Thanksgiving.More a slightly ubsurdist character study then a comedy,seeing as nothing really romantic happens and the leading man is actually an (intentionally) pathetic individual
'The Accidental Tourist' stands out heads and tales above todays faceless comedies bogged down with mindless teen flicks and vapid 'chick flicks'.This movie had some intelligence and wittyness to it and with the exception of the wonderful movie 'Amelie' very little is being done in this vein nowadays.
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| Rating | | | Date | January 05, 2005 | | Summary | Tramatic | Content
| What a tragic waste of talent. When I ordered this I thought it was a comedy. A comedy about a guy who travels the world and has two beautiful wmen after him. There is not way that it could possibly be boring,right? Except it is. It's slow and pointless. Everyone, including the dog, is clinically depressed and is in desperate need of therapy with the possible exception of Geena's character who is very unbalanced and stalks the male lead like Pepe la Pew throughout the entire movie. I suppose that she was supposed to be the breath of fresh air, but I found her delusions terrifying. The ending was unsatisfying, there was a strong clue that he was ready to change his mind again within minutes. I did get one really good belly laugh from this DVD when I went to the deleted scenes and saw that there were three screens of them. I'd been betting that they hadn't cut a frame. On this theme of traveling disfunctionals in love I vastly prefer the newer film "The Very Thought of You."
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| Rating | | | Date | October 12, 2004 | | Summary | It's about time | Content
| Having to watch this on cruddy laserdisc, it is reason to celebrate now that TAT is on DVD. Such tenderness and warmth between Nathan and Muriel - Geena Davis' Academy Award is richly deserved and she is the star here.
Presented in its original Panavision framing, this is a must pick-up for fans. |
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