Good review, Andrew. I hadn't thought about The Passenger, but it did remind me of Get Carter and Day of the Jackal at times, but without any obvious homages to either.

Ughhh. Just saw this tonight and I found it pretty disappointing. It is basically an Antonionoi rip off. It feels very American in that it seems hollow at it's core. Love Clooney, great cinematography, but not sure it really has antything to say. Reminds me a bit of the band clap your hands and say yeah. An enjoyable experience but it is the talking heads that matter. In many ways a european art house of cliches.

Old people love George Clooney. Old people are very loud at the movies.

Bah! And I can't believe that you gave Mr. Clooney points for leaving his 'Rat-Pack' persona at the door...fair enough, but if he doesn't on the way pick up a decent story then whats the point? I suppose any famous actor that reverses our expectations would get an Oscar by this logic...never mind the fact that 50% of this movie was him driving a Fiat around the ugly part of Italy...