A Hologram for the King
2016
***
Director: Tom Tykwer
Cast: Tom Hanks, Alexander Black, Sarita Choudhury, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Ben Whishaw, Tom Skerritt, Tracey Fairaway, Dhaffer L’Abidine, David Menkin, Megan Maczko
A struggling American businessman travels to Saudi Arabia to pitch a high-tech teleconferencing system to the king, but he faces cultural differences, bureaucratic delays, and a personal health crisis. This modest and disposable midlife-crisis dramedy is based on the 2012 novel by Dave Eggers. Tom Tykwer adapted the book, but the film bears little of his usual cinematic fingerprint. Without Tom Hanks in the lead, it wouldn’t be worth my time.
