The Accidental Tourist

The Accidental Tourist (1988)
Director: Lawrence Kasden
Cast: William Hurt, Geena Davis, Kathleen Turner
Memorable Line(s): "I'm beginning to think that maybe it's not just how much you love someone. Maybe what matters is who you are when you're with them."

* Underrated and Overlooked *
Based on the Anne Tyler novel, this is an off-beat and poignant movie of a grief stricken travel writer, Macon Leary (Hurt), as he tries to make it day-to-day until a chance encounter with a quirky dog trainer, Muriel (Davis) changes the direction of his life. Leary's wife (Turner), also deeply affected by grief, decides that she can no longer live with her emotionally distant husband and kicks him to the curb at the on-set of the movie. Slowly, the affable and outgoing dog trainer brings the nearly emotionally crippled Leary out his shell.

Director Lawrence Kasden and cast bring us a tale of grief intermixed with laughter that could have very easily been a bland and trivial TV movie of the week and elevate it by keeping the emotions subtle and nuanced and the comedy underplayed. Hurt plays the withdrawn Leary in such a way that we understand all of his pain and sympathize with his desire to keep the world at arms length. Davis gives Muriel an energy and strength that brings the character past what could have been a caricature and makes Muriel warm and caring with some quirkiness thrown in. Turner pulls off the icy wife well, but it's really the dynamic between Hurt and Davis that gives the movie its energy orbit and inertia.

Also included in the film are a cast of supporting character's including Leary's publisher and his siblings that add depth to the story. The look of the film is subdued with hints of color throughout to show the brightness that could be in Leary's life if he only chose to really live it.

This is one of the movies that made a lot of critics top ten list for the year, but has become forgotten. Don't let it pass you by and check it out yourself and you won't be disappointed.