Welcome to the only page I've seen on The Accidental
Tourist that doesn't belong to one of those annoying movie databases.
The Accidental Tourist is a quirky romantic drama about a
grief-stricken writer's reawakening after he meets the free-spirited Muriel.
It's a well-acted, intelligent yet sentimental love story with offbeat characters. Take a perky dog trainer, an superorganized and strange family, an adorable dog, and there you have it. A fun dark quirky little movie, starring Kathleen Turner, William Hurt, Geena Davis, and Bill Pullman.
Macon is the cold rather inert character that is emotionally crippled after his son is killed. Luckily, Muriel comes along to cure him. She seems very simple, with her ridiculous clothes and child-like manner, but she is not as simple as she seems. She is capable of seeing the future of her relationship with Macon, and tells him "Don't make promises to my son that you can't keep." Muriel's son, Alexander, is allergic to just about everything, and has had no father figure. He inspires compassion and love in Macon.
Edward the dog is one of the main characters too. He was Macon's son's dog, and serves as a catalyst in a number of events in the movie. For instance, Macon first meets Muriel when he boards Edward at the local dog kennel. Macon has to hire Muriel to cureEdward's habit of biting people, and get's to know her that way. One thing I love is the way the dog reflects things about his master's personality, and has an effect on his relationships with other people. For example, Edward's fear of the basement is symbolic on Macon's fear of opening up to people.(See my site on Verdell the finicky furball from As Good As It Gets, for more on my fascination with dogs in movies.
The movie is actually based on the book by Anne Tyler (which I actually
have not been able to buy yet) and I heard it's really good. Here's an
exerpt from the book.
Here's a site with
study guide questions
to help you understand Anne Tyler's book better.
This is what
Roger Ebert thinks about The Accidental Tourist.
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