Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Gareth Crook Take Hanks out and it would really struggle. Not that Tom is great, he's just doing his thing, like likeable character that's having a rough ride but making the best of it. Good old Tom. He plays an American businessman, a salesman who tasted success, but it's years behind him. Now he's in Saudi Arabia trying to rekindle his career, but floundering in a country that doesn't work the way he's used to. It's a battle and you root for Tom... even if it's not always clear what he's fighting for. It's all a little bit dreamlike and needlessly confusing. That said, its jumbled nature makes it oddly endearing. It twists and twists and twists, falls a bit flat, then gets up again. Does this review make any sense? No? Good! Bang on with the film.

majed_alnasser Its not Saudi arabia They are shooting in a desert Saudi Arabia is not a desert There is no prayer at 9 am And the prayer call were in 9 am?

Michael Ledo Alan Clay (Tom Hanks) a former CEO for Schwinn and now an IT salesman, sells his home and travels to Saudi Arabia to pay for his daughter's (Tracey Fairaway) education, because parents now feel obligated to do so. He is to do the IT work for a city under construction. He has a "team" of three people and they are to present to the King of Saudi Arabia a hologram presentation to demonstrate their capability, something that was lost to the near drama of the film.The film started out with Tom Hanks "singing" a modified version of "Once in a Lifetime" as he heads off to Saudi Arabia as a stranger in a strange land. He has trouble coping with the culture and customs but lands on his feet.Hanks tries, but is unconvincing in a half-hearted script that spins its wheels in the desert.Guide: F-word. Brief sex and nudity (Sarita Choudhury's body double)

jmvscotland One of the measures I apply to a movie is whether I can ever imagine myself wanting to watch it again. If so, it rates 7 (or more depending on how good it was the first time). If I can't see myself wanting to watch a movie again, it rates variously below 7 down to sub 6 which means it's to be avoided. It's simple but it works for me.I gave this one 7.3 on that basis despite its many, many faults and its almost total incredibility. I'm sure alcohol can be obtained in Saudi Arabia despite its being illegal in just the same way prostitution is everywhere in Thailand where I live despite its also being illegal here.But, here's the thing as some other people have observed about this movie. A relationship such as that which the female doctor, Dr Harem?, allowed to develop between herself and Tom Hanks' character is quite incredible in the society of Saudi Arabia. She would never in a million years have placed either herself or Alan Clay in that potentially lethal situation. She would face the very real risk of being beheaded or stoned to death and he might have faced the same fate as as accessory in what the Saudis would no doubt see as HER crime. And please, don't let anyone tell you that women have any freedom whatever in countries such as Saudi Arabia; every aspect of their lives is controlled by their husbands and other male relatives and any transgression of that tight control could well see them stoned, and not in the nice Western way of getting stoned. Swimming topless in daylight with any man, even with her husband in Saudi Arabia. I don't bloody think so unless she had a death wish. Even being alone with a man who's not her husband would probably lead to life threatening consequences.I have to wonder what was the purpose of portraying life in Saudi as anything other than the repressive Hell that it no doubt is for people who happen to be female.Look, it's not a great movie but if you can at least try to ignore the facts of life for women in Saudi, then it's not too bad and might prompt me to watch it again some time. All the same, I can't see that happening any time soon.