PREFACE: Long ago (1981) I thought that Kathleen Turner and William Hurt sizzled in the aptly named "Body Heat." I found William Hurt's Academy Award winning performance in "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1985) so obnoxious ("Watch me act! Watch me act!" his every exaggerated mannerism seemed to scream) that I avoided anything in which he played. Although I have friends who dote on Anne Tyler novels, the only one I've ever gotten around to reading was Breathing Lessons. I liked it and the tv adaptation of it with Joanne Woodward and Paul Winfield, but have not gotten around to reading any of her other books.

I saw "A.I." not knowing that William Hurt was in it. I loathed his part and particularly his second appearance. I was not sorry I saw the movie, but it did nothing to motivate me to lift my embargo of William Hurt movies. However, I recently enjoyed "Broadcast News" (which I must have seen before my boycott began, though it was made after "Spider Woman") and decided to watch "The Accidental Tourist" (1988) --primarily for the women (Kathleen Turner, Geena Davis, Anne Tyler).

(end of preface)

Having established that I have a deep-seated loathing of William Hurt, I have to admit that I found him convincing as Macon Leary, the very guarded anti-travel guidebook writer. The scene near the beginning in which he is accosted by a fat fan on a flight is hilarious, as are his pained tolerance of the dog that belonged to his dead son and is even more neurotic than Macon is. Edward (the dog) bites, whereas Macon's central interest and occupation is finding ways to avoid the challenges of unfamiliar stimuli.

After making him tea on his return to Baltimore, his wife Sarah (Turner) tells him she is tired of his emotional blockage and is leaving him. There is nothing left of the spark of "Body Heat." It is hard to imagine there had ever been passion in their relationship, though Macon does not like change and is used to Sarah being around.

In her absence, he has to find a place to board Edward while he is on his cringing travels away from home. He leaves Edward with Muriel (Geena Davis), a tall, queerly dressed dog-trainer, who is sufficiently desperate to have a man (any man) that she pursues this thin-lipped, emotionally constipated writer. That another woman is interested in Macon seems to make Sarah take an interest in trying again after the divorce papers are drawn up (whether they are filed is not clear). Both women pursue him to Paris, as I continue to wonder why either would exert herself to capture so dubious a prize.

A side-plot in which his publisher Julian (Bill Pullman) tires of life in a singles apartment building and woos Macon's sister Rose (Amy Wright) is comparatively more plausible to me. They are both befuddled and likely refugees in domesticity.

Despite the over-saturated color scheme, the first quarter or third of the movie is entertaining as it shows the quirkily leery Leary family. Edward's part dwindles thereafter and what happens becomes too predictable, including Macon rising to the challenge of being a male "role model" for Muriel's timid son Alexander (Robert Hy Gorman), the wedding, and the peregrinations of a Paris taxicab.

Geena Davis is not my idea of Life Force, but she does better than Turner at seeming interested in Macon and gets to be poignantly aware that people think her goofy and poignantly pained that men are afraid of commitments. (She was better as Thelma to Susan Sarandon's Louise a few years later and from among the weak field of best supporting actress Oscar nominees for 1988, I'd have picked Michelle Pfeiffer for "Dangerous Liaisons," which was also, in my opinion, the best picture of those nominated.)

As much as I dislike William Hurt in general, I don't have any fault to find with his performance here. I like Kathleen Turner considerably more, but don't see much to praise for what she did here.

If the running time was less (it's 121 minutes), the colors more natural, and Edward got a larger shared of screen time, I'd have liked it more. What happens is more plausible than in last year's grief-tossed couple ("In the Bedroom") and although I don't recommend "The Accidental Tourist," I don't think that it is a bad movie, only that it's not a particularly good "chick flick."



Recommended:
No