"I think we should expect the unexpected." Alan (Hanks) is a businessman who is struggling and who's life is falling apart. He is sent to Saudi Arabia in order to convince the king to use his company's technology. When he gets there it is not at all what he expected, and in the middle of the desert Alan begins to really discover who he is. This is a movie that isn't bad but really comes down to the fact that Tom Hanks is such a great actor that he carries the movie on his own. By that I mean that this movie isn't all that exciting and may not have been made if not for Hanks. He can turn a barely watchable movie into something much better than it should be just by his skills alone. Essentially his character spends his time waking up late and riding in a taxi only to be told that the king isn't here today. Over and over. The caliber of Hanks really adds depth and emotion to this character and makes the movie worth seeing. Very few actors can do that. Overall, an OK movie at best but Hanks makes this watchable and he is the real reason to watch this. I give it a B-.

The best thing that A Hologram For The King has going for it are some really vast sets built in Morocco showing the planned cities that Saudi Arabia has in place. Really nice structures standing almost surreal like in the vastness of the desert. Everything there but the people.

But that's what Tom Hanks is in the country for. He's competing with other companies to sell a whole new WiFi system for the city. Just like someone had the contract to build sewers in a 20th century planned city like Brasilia in the information age someone has to make sure the structure is in place for those laptops coming into town. In fact he and his team have a lot of problems just getting the creature comforts of daily living. A lot of hostility to us crass Americans.

But compensating for that is a nice female Arab doctor played by Sidse Babbett Knudsen. Hanks develops a strange growth on his back and it's pre-cancerous. She's the one who deals with it.

Knudsen and Sarita Choudhury who is a girl Friday that Hanks has to deal with are also a good thing for A Hologram For The King. Both portray women in a modern Islamic society going as far as they dare in this world. When you watch both you get a very good idea of what society's that people like Isis and the Taliban want to develop, going in the other direction that these women are taking.

The pace of A Hologram For A King is kind of slow and the sound at least on the DVD I got was not all it could be. Still Hanks is his unflappable self despite some cultural faux pas. Good thing he has cabdriver Alexander Black around to show him the ropes. Cabdrivers are really the same all over the world. Black gives one droll performance.

Despite some flaws A Hologram For The King gives some terrific cultural insights.

Alan Clay (Tom Hanks) flies to Saudi Arabia to nail down a deal to sell an IT teleconferencing system. His supervisor considers him a weak salesman getting the job only for a chance meeting with the king's nephew. He hires a driver named Yousef. He goes to the King's Metropolis of Economy which is a few buildings in the desert. The King is planning a 1.5 million people development by 2025. Alan is facing problems at home and at work. He's got a lump growing on his back. His loving daughter Kit was forced to leave college for financial reasons. His father (Tom Skerritt) is still angry at him for offshoring the jobs at the bicycle factory. The King is nowhere to be found and Alan keeps trying to put the best spin on the situation. He spends time with Hanne and gets treatment from Dr. Zahra.

Tom Hanks has a tendency towards light comedy especially with that driver and some of those pratfalls. The odd thing is that this story may work better as a sad and darker character study. His life is a mess and Saudi Arabia has some real darkness. The movie keeps trying to be a light quirky fish-out-of-water but that darkness keeps creeping in. It makes for an odd mix tonally. In the end, Hanks' innate humanity keeps the ship upright if not always sailing on course.