Review of A Hologram for the King (2016) by Carlos D — 06 May 2017

Tom Hanks plays a fish-out-of-water businessman in this tale of culture shock, self-doubt and discovery. Set amidst the flat desert plains of Saudi Arabia, Hanks aims to mend his financial struggles by selling an absentee king on a gimmicky hologram-driven teleconferencing solution.

Along the way, he encounters no shortage of roadblocks, be they personal, bureaucratic, cultural or medical, and eventually recognizes it as a growth opportunity. This is a conflicted picture, much in the same way our leading man plays a conflicted individual.

Nailing down a steady tone seems difficult; the film opens with a loose, cartoonish musical number, then settles into a fast-paced corporate shuffle before cutting that loose and becoming a warm-hearted buddy picture and, finally, a contemplative romance.

All this in a very trim, quick ninety minutes. Social norms are a steady focus, shining a flashlight on the immense gap between everyday life as an American and as a Saudi, but in the end it feels like those are only superficial, easily brushed aside to make way for a happy ending.

That climax leaves us with dozens of loose ends, half-heartedly explored threads that are inspected and discarded like an inattentive child digging through his toybox. It all feels very loose and light, like we've read a summary but not the entire story.

There's a compelling yarn buried somewhere within A Hologram for the King, but we only skim the surface. Interesting and original but quite limited.