CAST AWAY (2000) *1/2 Tom Hanks wouldn't have been my first, or second, or three hundredth, pick for the actor to carry in drama in which he spends fully an hour on a deserted island, speaking only to a volleyball. Against my worst expectations Hanks presents a very credible portrait of a postal worker's descent into a different kind of madness; at his most tanned, dreadlocked, white-bearded worst he even borders on interesting. Nor is the problem the plane crash-the Titanic-like creaking and lights on the water-it's a scene well done. The problem is everything else: whenever Hanks has to speak to a human, or they to him, it's just ridiculous and lacks any sense of credibility (no NOT just like real life); and why does Hollywood think that they have to moralize about everything? Don't they realize that they're famous for not having morals? So they set it up as an inspiration to divorcees everywhere: See? Even if you get lost on a desert island, and lose all hope, and have to eat bugs, and sleep under a broken port-a-potty from Bakersfield, and even if you come home and your beloved has married a professional in the dental field...and mothers must stay with the children, so tread lightly in that custody suit, and look! around the next corner may be Lari White in a pick-up truck! The island looked nice enough to me, what was all this business about wanting to get back to the cheatin' woman in Memphis anyway? Was he really into country music or something? It seems like they owe him a generator and a new girlfriend, then he could go back and make a sequel-why won't they? Explain...no, don't, you've already done enough, and yes I've already figured out the clever play on the title.
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