The Accidental Tourist (1988)

[Edgy MD]

Detached Baltimore man grieving for his murdered child grows more detached, gets abandoned by his iced-over wife, and moves back into his childhood home with his defeated adult siblings before taking up with a woman a class or two below his stratus. It's a comedy, really.

We spent part of our lovely day Saturday visiting locations from the film and then re-watching. (Coincidentally enough, one of those locations is our video store.) In reviewing our micro-adventures with friends, it turns out that most folks we know, and nobody under 37 or so, knows this film, nor the excellent novel that the film was loyally adapted from. (Native Baltamorans, even!)

[Vic Sage]

don't know the book; didn't much care for the movie.

[Guest sharpie]

I was a fan of the book and certain parts of it remain with me years after reading it. The movie was just ok.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Next up: John Waters.

[Frayed Knot]

Was this the movie where William Hurt mumbles a lot?
Oh wait, he does that in every movie.

[Edgy MD]

There are certain guys that have a role that's so career defining that either they continue to gravitate toward that character later in their careers, or the audience (or myself, anyhow), can't help but see that character filtering through their subsequent portrayals. I thought of this the other day when I watched The Accidental Tourist, how William Hurt in later films continued to squint puzzledly at other characters as if they were aliens from other worlds, mumbling confused responses in hurried attempts to disengage.

We're talking about Dustin Hoffman in another thread. Since Tootsie, he occasionally seems to gravitate toward Michael/Dorothy, and in Stranger than Fiction, for instance, he seems to be responding with that nasally cruel sacchariness, delivering bad news to Harold with his twitchy Tootsie half smile.

[RealityChuck]

Decent, but not great.