Photo courtesy of Dreamworks, Inc. Tom Hanks stars in the new comedy directed by Steven Spielberg. Based on a true story, Hanks finds himself stuck in limbo, or more specifically, an airport terminal.

Sometimes people have an urge to test themselves. They try to climb something large and dangerous, join the Marines, drink the weight of a cougar in gin, etc. Steven Spielberg's latest test for himself is to make a film about being trapped in an airport. The "trapped in a ... " film is a worthy adversary, as we've seen from bombs like "Phone Booth" and "Cube".

Spielberg thought it was about time to conquer the beast, and who better to star than Tom Hanks, who (as luck would have it) recently made a movie about being trapped on a desert island?

"The Terminal" is a story about immigrant Viktor Navorski (Hanks) whose homeland descends into civil war as he is in transit to America. This turn of events lands Navorski (Hanks) in a state of limbo. As he is unable to enter America or go home, his only legal choice is to stay in the airport.

While this situation seems unlikely, it is actually based on a real-life incident.

The story goes that an Iranian man by the name of Mehran Karimi Nasseri arrived in Paris with a ticket to London and no passport. The authorities let him fly to England, but the English sent him back. Nasseri had to stay at Charles de Gaulle airport until further notice. That was in 1988. He chose to stay in the airport even after being offered French residency. To this day he is still there, despite a rumored $250,000 offer from Dreamworks for the right to his story.

The film has switched the facts a little, given Hanks an ambiguously Russo-Slavic background and downplayed the eccentricity in the character. For the majority of the film, the audience wades through jokes about confusions in translation that seem to announce their presence two minutes in advance.

The pitfall here is that this is a film about one long flight delay and most people would rather lick a toilet seat in an airport than pay to see a movie about being delayed in one.

That being said, if anything remotely entertaining can come out of a film like this, it is a success. Tom Hanks seems to have studied up and does well with the mannerisms and intonation of an immigrant. Stanley Tucci, who plays the rigid customs and immigration officer, is adept at looking like a total creep. However, the standout performance in this film is by Kumar Pallana.

Some of you are nodding your heads and others are just mystified. Let me clarify. Kumar Pallana gained notoriety in the films of Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson. He was the brilliant Indian actor playing Pagoda in "The Royal Tenenbaums" and Mister Little Jeans in "Rushmore". Pallana, who plays Gupta Rajan, really steals the film. He even showcases his talents as a plate spinner and juggler (his original claim to fame). In the film he plays an ornery janitor, a role that affords him more screen time than one would think and a platform for his understated humor.

This film follows basically the same formula as "Cast Away": The main character spends an hour and forty-five minutes in one place while the film builds up to the eighteen minutes he spends outside of it. High marks go to Spielberg throughout for keeping it interesting with intelligent casting and creative camerawork. It was enough to keep my ass in the seat.