Review of The Accidental Tourist (1988) by Kris T — 22 Sep 2007

There is a reason why Lawrence Kasdan constantly remains one of my favorite filmmakers. He knows how to take real and human stories and make them into something not ordinary. The Accidental Tourist is a perfect example of this.

In the film, William Hurt plays Macon Leary, a writer of Travel Guide books called The Accidental Tourist, which are made for the traveling business salesman. Unfortunately, even though he can help them, he can't do much to help himself.

His wife Sarah (Kathleen Turner) leaves him, their son was killed a year earlier, leaving him devastated and distanced from everyone, and his dog is having problems of his own. Then one day, a unusual woman named Murial Pritchett (Geena Davis, in her Oscar winning role) comes into Macon's life to not only help his dog, but help himself as well, as she is smitten with him.

The only probalm is that Macon needs to leave his problems in the past in order to move on ith his life. Throughout the movie, I was impressed with everything about the film, from the cinematography by John Baily (who chooses to shoot the film in anamorphic Panavision to great effect) to the music by John Williams (which sounds like the anti-E.

T. score he always wanted to write) to the performances by Hurt, Turner, and Davis. I also liked the development of Macon's immediate family, including his sister Rose (Amy Wright) and his brothers Porter (David Ogden Stiers) and Charles (Ed Begley Jr.

). I found them to be eccentric yet so endearing. Then there is Rose's relationship with Macon's publisher Julian (Bill Pullman). He likes her right away, but she, who is so set in her ways, doesn't know how to react to this attraction.

It's immensley involving, but also heartbreaking as well. And I will say that if you are not brought down by the final shots, then I don't know what to do with you. A great film that still holds up extraordinarily well today!