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Hologram for the King, A (DVD)
Stars: Tom Hanks, Sarita Choudhury, Alexander Black, Sidse Babette Knudsen, Tracey Fairaway, Khalid Laith, Tom Skerritt
Director: Tom Tykwer
This is an interesting and different dramedy, even if it does on occasion only escape tedium by a small margin. Central to the slowly unfolding events is US businessman Alan Clay (Hanks), who once ran his own firm but is now something of a dogsbody at a progressive IT company.
Divorced and with a 21-year-old daughter (Fairaway), Clay finds himself sent to Saudi Arabia to sell a new IT system to the king and his advisers. He immediately finds life there to be less predictable and more unevenly paced.
Troubled by a growth on his back, Clay encounters an Arabian rarity, a lady doctor (Choudhury), with whom he will later explore a budding friendship - if he can break clear of non-appearances by the king and hangovers brought on by the local (illegal) rotgut.
Hanks makes the most out of this fish-out-of-water role, and Black is always good company, but other roles border on cyphers and there's a curious cameo from Ben Whishaw as the hologram of the title - a role absolutely anyone could have played.
David Quinlan
Germany/Morocco/Egypt/Saudi Arabia/ USA 2015. UK Distributor: Icon. Colour by Arri.
95 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.
Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 1, Swearing 1.
Review date: 24 Sep 2016