Movie · 1988 · Comedy, Drama, Romance · 2h 1m · PG · English
Curator score: 3.3/10 (28.3K ratings)
Macon Leary was set in his ways. The way he lived, thought and worked. He imagined it would always be like that. Until an unusual woman showed him the way it could be.
Overview
After the death of his son, travel writer Macon Leary seems to be sleep walking through life. Macon's wife is having similar problems. They separate, and Macon meets a strange, outgoing woman who brings him 'back down to earth', but his wife soon thinks their marriage is still worth another try.
Ratings
Curator score: 3.3/10
IMDb: 6.7/10
Letterboxd: 3.32/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Metacritic: 52
TMDB: 6.3/10
Director
Lawrence Kasdan
Production
Warner Bros. Pictures
Cast
William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, Geena Davis, Amy Wright, David Ogden Stiers, Ed Begley Jr., Bill Pullman, Robert Hy Gorman, Bradley Mott, Seth Granger, Amanda Houck, Caroline Houck, London Nelson, Gregory Gouyer, Bill Lee Brown, Donald Neal, Peggy Converse, Maureen Kerrigan, Jake Kasdan, Paul Williamson
Curator Review
Verdict
A thoughtful, melancholy domestic dramedy about grief, routine, and the awkward work of reentering life. It has strong performances, a literate script, and a distinctive late-80s adult-movie polish, but its tonal uncertainty and emotionally withholding lead can make it feel more admirable than fully moving.
Best for
viewers who like quiet character studies
fans of grief-and-recovery stories
people drawn to adult relationship dramas with a literary feel
audiences who don’t mind a restrained, slightly offbeat tone
Skip if
you want a clearly focused romance
you dislike emotionally detached protagonists
you prefer brisk pacing or overt comedy
you’re impatient with tonal mixtures that never fully settle
Overview
The Accidental Tourist is one of those studio-era adult dramas that feels both carefully made and slightly out of joint. Lawrence Kasdan gives Anne Tyler’s material a polished, melancholy surface, and the film is often strongest when it simply observes how grief hardens into habit and how habit becomes a kind of emotional exile.
Worth noting
William Hurt’s withdrawn performance is central to the movie’s appeal and its limitation: he’s convincing as a man sealed off from feeling, but the film sometimes asks for sympathy before it has earned enough warmth around him. Kathleen Turner brings bite and intelligence, while Geena Davis supplies the movie’s most humanizing energy, even when the script leaves her underwritten.
Bottom line
What lingers is the mood more than the plot mechanics: a soft, uneasy blend of romance, sadness, and dry humor. It’s not a crowd-pleaser, and it never fully resolves its tonal identity, but for viewers who like literary domestic dramas with an adult sensibility, it has a distinct and memorable ache.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Sam · 149 likes
what a strange, forgotten, and tonally mixed American domestic drama. this film being a Best Picture nominee is both incredibly mind-boggling and so expected to me. it’s so unsure of what it is; you have a weirdly sweeping John Williams score that feels like it came out of a light fantasy dramedy or maybe one of the Harrison Ford-lead action movies, at least for the expositional scenes, like the fugitive or witness.
then you have the cinematography and lighting which… more
Adam Forrest (3.5★) · 125 likes
This is a frustrating movie. I think it’s very good, but I feel like they had the raw material to make something great. And in my mind the main issue is the two top-billed actors — the Body Heat reunion of William Hurt and Kathleen Turner — are wrong for their roles.
Especially Hurt. His is a really difficult role to play: A withdrawn oddball devastated by grief, who we nevertheless need to find relatable and sympathetic. It’s a role… more
Corey 🤠 (3★) · 111 likes
i’m so stuck with wether i love it or if it’s just fine. a real take on grief and isolation that wants to be five things at once. if i have to hear william hurt talk in this default depressed voice one more time i’m gonna start sounding like him.
why would any of these ladies want to be with this man in the first place. maybe stop changing your mind and obviously pick the lovely geena davis instead of your evil ex wife? better yet geena davis should just pick me instead.
Mary Conti · 101 likes
**Part of the Best Picture Project**
In which Geena Davis plays a quirky woman who seems to have very little of a life beyond her desire to get William Hurt out his depression and see the value of life again.
IF ONLY THERE WAS A TROPE TO DESCRIBE THIS KIND OF WOMAN.
claireeliza (3★) · 83 likes
William Hurt: "oh no woe is me Geena Davis and Kathleen Turner are fighting over me pls help me"