Attempting to recover from a mid-life crisis, which consisted of divorce and poor work performance, a salesman (Tom Hanks) travels to Saudi Arabia aiming to pitch state of the art communications equipment to a sovereign and finds himself unexpectedly drawn to a beautiful doctor whose services he had to seek. Tom Tykwer's adaptation of David Eggers novel is well-paced and amiable but ultimately inconsequential, starting out down an interesting and unconventional road but detouring along the way onto the expected pc path before coming to an abrupt halt. Also, the film contains another effective, unchallenging Hanks performance.
** 1/2 out of ****
