Starring William Hurt, Geena Davis, Kathleen Turner, Bill Pullman, Ed Begley Jr., David Ogden Stiers, Amy Wright
(8-Exceptional Film)
Emotional. Wistful. Enchanting.
Macon: It’s wrong to think we could plan everything, as though it were a business trip. I don’t believe that anymore. Things just happen.
Macon Leary (Hurt) writes guides for businessmen who want to feel like they never left home when they travel abroad; how to have the most American experience possible in whatever country. He’s still churning out these guides dutifully though his young son has died and his wife, Sarah (Turner), has left in the painful aftermath. Macon seems emotionally dead. He drops his dog off before a trip at a local animal hospital and meets Muriel Pritchett (Davis), eccentric perhaps and certainly forward but mostly charming. She slowly brings Macon back to life. The Accidental Tourist is a wonderful film, adapted from a wonderful book, with a lot of sadness that miraculously manages to somehow still feel light. Hurt gives a very sharply observed performance and Davis is all warmth. I didn’t know while watching the film but I’ve found out since, that the beautiful score is the work of John Williams. That’s not surprising. He adds so much to the film and the ending is so satisfying.
-Walter Tyrone Howard-
(924)
licoricerub 
Anne Tyler is from my hometown of Baltimore and sets (I think) all her books there, including this one. I was a young kid when they shot this and it seemed so cool. They never shot movies in Baltimore. Yet, I have an equally vague memory of trying to watch it as a young adult and feeling that it was tedious. Maybe it’s time to give it another shot! Especially now that I’m a little more familiar with middle aged ennui!
LikeLiked by 1 person