A Hologram for the King **½ (2016, Tom Hanks, Alexander Black, Sarita Choudhury, Ben Whishaw) – Movie Review

You’ve got to hand it to Mr Nice Guy Tom Hanks, he hasn’t given up on Tom Tykwer, the director of his 2012 box-office loser Cloud Atlas. (It cost $102million and earned back only $27million in the US.) Both men are right to get back together. A Hologram for the King provides a very good role for Hanks, mixing comedy and romance in separate plot strands, so that he can play to both of his strengths. Hanks is 60 on 9 July 2016, so how many more screen romances is he going to have?

Happily Hanks proves his usual hard-working stalwart self as failed American businessman Alan, who seeks to recoup his losses by travelling to Saudi Arabia and selling his idea to the wealthy monarch – A Hologram! The only trouble is, the king is never there, and Alan’s computer/Hologram people have a big tent but no broadband or food. Alan’s got to sort it out, if only he can actually find the locals to deal with.

Jet-lagged Alan sleeps in on the first day and so needs a ride to work from an eccentric cabbie – Alexander Black plays Yousef – cue take-it-or-leave-it comedy. Later, Alan develops a weird lump on his back, which he cuts out himself, and needs the help of a sympathetic doctor – Sarita Choudhury plays Zahra – cue surprisingly charming romance.

When the comedy going gets a bit rough, along comes Ben Whishaw to cheer us all up as Dave the Hologram. But the cheer is short lived as he’s off screen as fast as he’s on. Shame! I guess this is a favour from Whishaw to the director, whose Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and Cloud Atlas he starred in. But, really, he could have been given something to do, even as a Hologram.

[Spoiler alert] At the start you think this is all going to be a mismatched buddy, buddy comedy, but this proves a false trail. Around half way, of a short movie (98 minutes), culture clash comedy and Yousef are abandoned in favour of culture clash romance and Zahra. Ah, well, that’s good, you see.

There are those who will find Alexander Black funny. Personally I found him an irritant. But there we are. I imagine most people will find Sarita Choudhury warm and appealing. I certainly did. The ending is on the cheesy side, but then so is gorgonzola, which I’m very fond of. It’s a Mr Nice Guy ending, just right for a Tom Hanks movie. I liked that about the film. The film builds slowly and grows on you, admittedly a bit like the lump on Alan’s back, but it’s benign, you see.

I’m not expecting a sequel to A Hologram for the King, thank goodness, but there would be plenty of room for one in its open ending. Hanks and Choudhury are welcome back any day, though.

Apparently, versatile American actor Alexander Black was chosen from a world-wide search to play the second lead. Maybe it was just the role that was irritating.

Tykwer’s screenplay is based on a novel by Dave Eggers, who wrote the screenplay for Where the Wild Things Are (2009) and the story for Promised Land (2012).

Tykwer is the director of Run Lola Run, Perfume and Cloud Atlas.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Movie Review

Check out more reviews on derekwinnert.com

Tom Hanks stars in A Hologram for the King.

Ben Whishaw stars in A Hologram for the King.