The Accidental Tourist (DVD, 2004)

A very interesting look at differing character styles and orientations in this refreshing movie. Kathleen Turner is a pleasant sight on the screen, you will remember her very great sexy performance in "body heat". This is a movie about being humanly warm and sensitive and about leaving behind superficial exchanges that lack this needed quality in our daily lives and overall existence. William Hurt plays his character very well indeed and gives us a sensitive look at those who keep trying for more in life having become disillusioned with what they had instead to contribute.

This is an excellent movie that depicts a couple's continuing struggle with the death of thier little boy. Each of them has been dealing (or not dealing) with thier feelings of loss in a different way and this has resulted in thier growing further apart from each other physically and emotionally. Sara (Kathleen Turner) finally decides to call it quits and requests a divorce. Macon, who has a particularly difficult time with change and emotional discomfort continues to isolate himself and bury his feelings until he meets a quirky and unconventional dog groomer, named Muriel (Geena Davis). Throughout the story Macon, who authors a guidebook for homesick business travelers (called the Accidental Tourist), is working on his newest revision. The focus of his book is how to travel to foreign places and still feel like you have never left home. The entries in his book become metaphors for his own life and how he himself is afraid to move out of his comfort zone. This movie moves at a slow and sometimes monotonous pace. I don't think it necessarily has a beginning and ending point- rather it is like reading several chapters in the life of Macon. Even so, I felt very fulfilled at the end of the film, as there is some resolution for Macon and the possibility he will be able to start a new chapter in his life.

I had a friend that was thinking about going back to a bad relationship. I ordered the DVD for her to watch so she would realize you can't go back. I particularly enjoy the dysfunctional family life and the travel hints given in the movie. I had forgotten some of them and they are still good today.

n the aftermath of the tragic death of their child, Macon Leary (William Hurt) and his wife Sarah (Kathleen Turner) split up. A travel writer who hates to travel, Macon drifts dully through the routine of his days, working on his "Accidental Tourist" series of guides for reluctant travelers and seemingly unaware of the deep depression in which he dwells — until he meets Muriel (Geena Davis), a dog groomer intent on pulling Macon out of his shell. An exceptionally canny adaptation of Anne Tyler's novel, The Accidental Tourist (1988) is a brilliantly crafted character study, presenting Macon's neurotic, insular, anal-retentive family (painfully and, at times, hysterically played by David Ogden Stiers, Amy Wright and Ed Begley, Jr.) without judgment — that they refuse to answer their telephone for fear it'll interfere with their routine, treasuring their tightly wound sameness with neurotic intensity — is all the explanation we need to understand Macon's personality. Hurt is superb, offering one of his finest performances as a man utterly out of touch with his own emotions and struggling to stay that way against almost insurmountable odds. But to Macon's chagrin, Muriel is almost a force of nature — though it's difficult to imagine what she sees in the laconic, inwardly focused Macon, her sheer joie de vivre, along with Macon's gradual acceptance by Muriel's young son as a father figure, encourages Macon to warily rejoin the rest of humanity. Director Lawrence Kasdan's script, co-written with Frank Galati, captures the quirky, bittersweet quality of Tyler's book, retaining both the novel's heart — which is considerable — and it's many laugh-out-loud funny moments. Davis won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role. Warner's DVD release offers a very good, if slightly soft, anamorphic transfer (2.35:1) — the film's muted color palette is well represented here, with the more colorful Muriel's occasionally eye-popping outfits providing an amusing contrast to all the somber earth-tones in the rest of Macon's world.

I needed to come up with a Birthday idea that would mean something special for my best friend. I remembered that the first movie we saw was "Accidental Tourist". I looked all over town at movie rental shops, CD/DVD shops etc, but couldn't find it anywhere. Then I realized that I should just go to Ebay and look there. Of course I found it! The cost was inexpensive! And I couldn't find it anywhere else, for what I had the budget for.I always know that when I need something that to personalize my gift giving for a specific person in my life, I can always find it here!