--- title: "The Accidental Tourist: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-accidental-tourist/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-accidental-tourist" critics_score: 76 critics_reviews: 7 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Accidental Tourist (1988): what the critics said Critics' score 76 from 7 reviews: 6 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative. Most critics warm to The Accidental Tourist as a bittersweet comedy that lets its sadness and its laughter sit side by side. The praise gathers around William Hurt, whose withdrawn, grief-stricken travel writer is called finely observed and quietly compelling in nearly every review, and around Geena Davis, whose eccentric dog trainer supplies most of the lift. Kasdan’s direction and the screenplay’s small shifts of tone are credited with keeping the film gentle rather than glum, and the oddball Leary family is a recurring pleasure. The spread is narrow at the top, then drops sharply. Variety finds it slow and sonorous but largely satisfying, and Kathleen Turner draws admiring mentions from more than one critic. The one real dissent comes from The New York Times, which argues the adaptation is too literary for its own good, that the plot rambles, and that Hurt’s morose performance misses the novel’s subtleties. Later reviews are as fond of the film as the first ones. ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 6 January 1989. The film is a journey from emotional sterility toward a smile, with William Hurt's depressed, withdrawn Macon winning sympathy through Kasdan's direction. It is one of the best films of the year, sad yet filled with genuine laughter and quirky humor from the eccentric family and Geena Davis's character. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-accidental-tourist-1989) ## Los Angeles Times — Sheila Benson Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 23 December 1988. The film is the best holiday gift, bristling with eccentric, memorable characters and the true stuff of life: love, families, and the capacity to change. William Hurt's finely observed performance borders on the preternatural, and the large cast is distinctively good in this irresistibly funny transposition of the novel. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-12-23-ca-657-story.html) ## Empire — Phil Thomas Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The critic praises the film's ability to balance deep sadness and humor through William Hurt's mesmerizing performance as the emotionally detached Macon Leary. Geena Davis's quirky role and the eccentric family elements help offset the melancholy, resulting in a quiet, gentle and amusing domestic drama worth rewatching. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/accidental-tourist-review/) ## Radio Times — John Ferguson Rating 4/5. This bittersweet comedy remains one of Kasdan's best films. William Hurt is wonderful as the travel writer whose orderly life falls apart after personal tragedy, helped by Geena Davis's eccentric dog trainer, with melancholy underpinning the laughs. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-70h16i/the-accidental-tourist/) ## Time Out — NF Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 10 September 2012. In this subtly modulated romantic comedy-drama, the screenplay achieves numerous shifts of tone within a compressed emotional range, with the ensemble cast responding equally well to the comic and tragic elements. Hurt excels, Davis exudes loopy charm, and Turner is brilliant. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-accidental-tourist) ## Variety — Variety Staff Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 1988. The slow, sonorous and largely satisfying adaptation follows one man's self-contained passage from grief to newfound love. William Hurt is uptight and compelling as the travel writer, with Geena Davis as the constant upbeat force and Kathleen Turner equally sympathetic in this warm, wise story. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1987/film/reviews/the-accidental-tourist-1200427444/) ## The New York Times Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 23 December 1988. The literary adaptation forgets film's own language and gives obviousness to material that need not have seemed that way. William Hurt's pained, morose performance and the diffuse, rambling plot fail to capture the novel's subtleties effectively. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/23/movies/review-film-going-nowhere-slowly.html) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-accidental-tourist.md