Recently divorced Alan Clay (Tom Hanks) is a struggling salesman who is sent to Saudi Arabia to get the king to purchase an I.T. program that uses holograms. He is on a tentative basis with his daughter Kit (Tracey Fairway) and is afraid he won't be able to pay for her college. Still she is supportive of him.
Sometimes I wonder why some movies are made in the first place as nothing really happens although we are kept waiting for something to happen. Sad. Alan undergoes a mild culture shock and one would think anyone going to a new country with far different cultural mores would - at the very least - learn some basic language greetings, and of course, his "howdy" doesn't do it. He asks for a beer in the hotel and is told it is not allowed. He meets a Saudi woman doctor Zahra (Sarita Choudhury) who is in the process of getting a divorce and he falls for her. At times they are both alone (Whaaaat?) Zahra does treat him for a cyst on his back. It is my understanding that woman doctors in Saudi Arabia only treat women. He experiences numerous delays that hinder meetings to get his company's product presented.
Alan does have a good relationship with his driver, Yousef (Alexander Black) but Yousef always has to check to see that his car won't be blown up by the husband of the wife he is sleeping with. Their banter in the car is pretty good, but the problem is this: Alan's driver would be a nationality other than a Saudi and not a Saudi. Alan sees mannequins in a store window that sport bikinis. Why the Director allows something like this that would never be allowed in this country is beyond me. Yousef brings Alan to his family who live in the mountains and he asks Alan if he would fight for him should Yousef decide to join a revolution. It is here we think the main plot will take form, but it seems those script pages were lost in the desert winds and this goes nowhere. When will something happen? We are besides ourselves.
Wait. Wait. Alan has a date with Zahra the woman doctor who takes him to her home and they go snorkeling and we see her topless in the water with Alan. (Whaaaaat??) Is this it? The main plot? Sadly, no. Sad.
I don't know what city he is in, but the first time he enters the hotel he is greeted by the desk clerk with, "Welcome to the Hyatt Hotel, Jeddah." This is very strange as Alan is told the person he was to meet was not there and is in Jeddah. (Say what?) Maybe I heard it wrong. The clerk says this every other time Alan enters the hotel.
Apparently, Tom Hanks is miscast in this. His facial expressions to indicate humor fail. Not good. There is nothing funny in here. The banter in the car with Yousef almost serves as comic relief, but again those script pages were eaten by camels and although the banter is good, it is not ha ha funny, and a far cry from a LOL funny.
Apart from uncomfortable scenes within the Denmark Embassy with an aggressive Hanne (Sidse Babett Knudsen) nothing happens and we are lost. In this Embassy we see suggestive dances, make-out sessions, drug and alcohol use.
Again, we wonder why some movies are made and why some A-List stars bother to be in them. Nothing happens to pique our interest. Nothing. Sad. Very sad. (4/10)
Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: Yes, the snorkeling scenes. Language: No
