A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING (Tom Tykwer). 98 minutes. Opens Friday (April 22). See Listing. Rating: NNN
Most of the time, when a movie starts as badly as A Hologram For The King, it just never recovers. Tom Hanks speak-singing the Talking Heads’ Once In A Lifetime in a stiff fantasy sequence meant to convey the midlife desperation of a character we’ve just met? Sorry, that’s a terrible idea.
The next 15 or 20 minutes don’t inspire much hope, as Hanks’s weary Boston salesman, Alan Clay, goes through a series of rote fish-out-of-water frustrations while trying to -secure the IT rights for a Saudi Arabian business complex.
But weirdly, slowly, the movie finds its feet, digging into the dislocation and insecurity that drive Dave -Eggers’s novel. As the full scope of Alan’s concerns becomes clear, the obstacles in his path shift from cutesy annoyances to existential threats.
I don’t know that Tom Tykwer, who previously worked with Hanks in Cloud Atlas, is the ideal director for this material. He tends toward amped-up energy – a rave sequence at the Dutch embassy, for example – when Hanks is more inclined to work in a quieter key.
In its second half, though, Tykwer and Hanks find a tone that works for both of them, and A Hologram For The King becomes an involving, intriguing drama. I guess the question is whether you’re willing to endure the first movement before that happens.
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