Bad screenplay, like in most Tykwer films...

I saw this in an empty cinema on the first weekend at 10pm.

The audience could smell the sh*t after the crappy trailer, I guess.

There's a lot to like in theory:
Tom Hanks in one of his better performances, interesting themes,
an exotic location, good cinematography and music...

The film has about 6 really good scenes, which is more than other films have.

But it's still a boring mess.

There are clichés and badly directed scenes that undermine the good stuff.

Did we really need to see Tom Hanks 3 times (!) falling on his ass ?
Is it really as funny as Tom Tykwer thinks?
I guess it's a metaphor for Clay's life ?
Anyway, it's stupid.

The romance with the doctor doesn't work: The actress is miscast.
There is no chemistry between them whatsoever.
And it's not believable that a Saudi woman would fall that quickly for
an American.

Some scenes and characters have no real point.
They are just there for reasons unknown to man.
Other scenes are preachy and too obvious.

This could have been a good film with a better screenplay
and more intelligent casting and direction.

Tykwer is a terrible writer like he already showed multiple times.

He has an interesting visual style, but not always good taste.

He should stop writing his own material or his career will be over soon.