Film

A Hologram for the King

Name: A Hologram for the King
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 2016
Cast: Tom Hanks, Sarita Choudhury, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Ben Whishaw, Tom Skerritt

Comedy

Tom Hanks plays an aging American salesman sent to Saudi Arabia to pitch a hologram display to the King. It's a gentle, melancholic film about obsolescence and the spaces between cultures—less satire than quiet reflection on what happens when the world moves on without you. For viewers who prefer character and mood to plot momentum.

TMDb rating

2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like wry, deadpan comedy about a decent man out of his depth, where the humor comes from quiet awkwardness and a sad-funny melancholy rather than gags.

Skip it if you need brisk plotting or a clear sense of where the story is heading, since it drifts through meetings and waiting rooms.

What it asks of you: Long stretches of waiting and small talk set an unhurried, episodic pace, so it rewards a viewer happy to sit inside the boredom and notice small details.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Lost in Translation2003

Sofia Coppola's portrait of two Americans adrift in Tokyo shares the same patient, observant style—lingering on moments of isolation and connection rather than rushing toward resolution.

But If you need plot propulsion or conflict resolution, this will feel glacial. It's sustained melancholy, not drama.

The Secret of Santa Vittoria1970

Anthony Quinn as an aging Italian mayor trying to navigate bureaucracy and save face before authority arrives. Same tone of genteel desperation, same compassion for middle-aged men facing irrelevance.

But It's obscure for good reason—the pacing is slow and the comedy sometimes lands wrong, even in 1969.

The Straight Story1999

David Lynch's only G-rated film follows an old man driving a lawnmower across Iowa. Like Hologram, it finds profound stillness in the movement of a quietly determined aging male body through space.

But There is almost no conflict. If that sounds terrible rather than restful, this isn't for you.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from A Hologram for the King

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Killing2011

Both understand bureaucracy not as joke material but as a structure that breaks people. Both watch how individuals persist within it.

A Danish noir series where nothing moves quickly and the system itself becomes a character. Like Hologram, it's fundamentally about bureaucracy, patience, and the grinding gap between individual need and institutional indifference. But it trades comedy and melancholy for moral weight.

But It's forty hours and relentlessly gray. The slow accumulation of detail and setback can feel punishing rather than rewarding.

About Schmidt2002

Jack Nicholson as a recently retired man adrift in America, confronting his obsolescence and his relationships. Same wry observation of male discomfort, same underlying kindness toward its protagonist.

But Nicholson's performance can tip into cruelty. The film doesn't always distinguish between satire and meanness.

Paterson2016

Jim Jarmusch's portrait of an American bus driver and poet finding beauty in routine and small failures. That same acceptance of quiet, repetitive lives and modest ambitions.

But Jarmusch's deliberate pacing requires patience. Some find it meditative; others find it empty.

The Farewell2019

Awkwafina in a film about cultural displacement and family obligation, set partly in China. It shares Hologram's interest in how Americans navigate non-Western spaces and expectations.

But It's a comedy-drama that prioritizes emotional authenticity over laughs. The tone can feel uneven if you're expecting something lighter.

Goodbye Christopher Robin2017

Domhnall Gleeson and Margot Robbie as aging parents grappling with loss and diminishment. Similar mood of quiet devastation beneath a polite surface.

But Sentimental to a fault. If you dislike films about feelings being explicitly named, this will annoy you.

The Cup2011

A Bhutanese film about a young monk's quest to watch a football World Cup match. It has the same cross-cultural gentleness and refusal to mock its protagonist's desires, however modest.

But A very quiet, regional film with no stars. It requires you to meet it on its own small scale.

A Man Apart2003

Vin Diesel as an aging DEA agent watching his world collapse. Shares the theme of a man confronting obsolescence and his own lack of control, though in a much louder key.

But It's a generic action thriller. The earnestness feels misplaced in the genre and the film doesn't know how to handle it.

Synecdoche, New York2008

Both follow a man trying to sell something (a product, a show, a version of himself) in a world that has moved on. Both end in the same place: acceptance of failure as simply part of living.

Charlie Kaufman's spiral into surrealism where a aging theater director attempts to stage reality itself. Like Hologram, it's about a man's desperate attempt to pitch a vision to an indifferent world, and the gap between ambition and capability—but rendered as fever dream rather than gentle comedy.

But It's bewildering and bleaker than hell. Hanks's quiet resignation becomes Kaufman's screaming descent. If you found Hologram too melancholy, this will wreck you.