Tom Hanks: The Luckiest Man in the World

Tom Hanks, as we're informed in this profile from A&E's Biography series, has done a remarkable job of balancing an outgoing public life with an impressively private home life. America's favorite leading man stays true to form here, as friends and coworkers assure us that Hanks is just a normal guy: a consummate professional, an actor's actor, the perfect dad--all of which, unfortunately, makes him a rather terminally boring biography subject for a near-hour-long documentary. On the plus side, there's a nice clip from Hanks' slasher film debut He Knows You're Alone and adoring interviews with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Leonardo DiCaprio and Roger Ebert; while on the minus side, viewers must endure shots from Turner & Hooch and seemingly endless armchair psychoanalyzing by Hanks' less-interesting bosom buddy Peter Scolari. In addition, there are glaring interview omissions--including wife Rita Wilson and frequent costar Meg Ryan--and several of his lesser career choices (The Bonfire of the Vanities, The ‘Burbs) are elided from the warm, fuzzy story, making this an overall tepid puff piece, even by the standards of the innocuous Biography franchise. An optional purchase, at best. Aud: P. (D. Fienberg)