In his novel Hologram For The King, Dave Eggers channelled his unique understanding of melancholia, rage and the emotional pit of capitalism into a modern-day Willy Loman story.
These themes must have been catnip for director Tom Tykwer, whose work on Run Lola Run, Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer and Cloud Atlas testified to a wickedly dark sensibility. However, he struggles here to evoke the existential themes in a film that plays out more like a generic fish-out-of-water tale while the genial Tom Hanks is miscast as a conflicted everyman.
Another issue is that the film’s American gaze upon the Middle East (most of the action is in Saudi Arabia) feels more prominent than its self-reflection, while Alan’s fast-tracked relationships with a chatty comic relief driver (Alexander Black), a no-nonsense Danish consultant (Sidse Babett Knudsen) and a doctor love interest (Sarita Choudhury, wonderful) feel box-ticking rather than thought-provoking.
Hologram For The Kings opens with the recitation of the Talking Heads song ‘Once In A Lifetime’. Yet it’s at the end of the film, as you’re left in a state of underwhelmed numbness, that you may well ask, “How did I get here?”