History YMMV / TheTerminal

** A person with sufficiently poor taste could suggest that he had a... [[JustForPun Terminal condition]].

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhof: The movie is quite popular in Bulgaria, seeing as the "Karkozhian" Tom Hanks is speaking is actually Bulgarian and viewers are impressed with how well he does it, especially in comparison to other foreigners who have tried. It is known that Hanks' wife is of partly Bulgarian descent and taught him the language, but even with that he's doing better than a lot of other people with Bulgarian partners.

* HilariousInHindsight: In a sort of reverse CastingGag, the character of "Trekkie" Delores Torres is played by Creator/ZoeSaldana who within a few years would be cast in the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' franchise (as Uhura, ''not'' Yeoman Rand). And ''then'', spinning on a few more years, Creator/DiegoLuna - the actor so adorkably geeking about discovering the sci-fi nerdom of the girl of his dreams - would be cast as the male lead in ''Film/RogueOne'', the first "anthology film" other Mega Sci-Fi franchise, ''Franchise/StarWars'' (and being a shameless Star Wars PromotedFanboy about it too). Plus, in 2014, Zaldana and Luna would once again play each other's love interest in ''WesternAnimation/TheBookOfLife''.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Does Amelia ''really'' love Victor, or is she just reeling from a painful breakup, and projecting admirable qualities onto him because she's eager to love someone again? As a transplanted foreigner, Victor struggles with English for most of the movie, and can't always express his thoughts and feelings as articulately as he might want to; with that in mind, it's easy to imagine that Amelia just assumes what she wants to assume about him, and Victor isn't able to correct her.

* ValuesResonance: It was seen at the time as a forgettable Spielberg film about a fantastic situation. Come TheNewTens when immigration and refugees displaced from their lands is a key political issue again, as is the responsibility of governments and administrators to them, this film feels ahead of its time.

* HilariousInHindsight: In a sort of reverse CastingGag, the character of "Trekkie" Delores Torres is played by Creator/ZoeSaldana who within a few years would be cast in the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' franchise (as Uhura, ''not'' Yeoman Rand). And ''then'', spinning on a few more years, Creator/DiegoLuna - the actor so adorkably geeking about discovering the sci-fi nerdom of the girl of his dreams - would be cast as the male lead in ''Film/RogueOne'', the first "anthology film" other Mega Sci-Fi franchise, ''Franchise/StarWars'' (and being a shameless Star Wars PromotedFanboy about it too).

* LawfulNeutral: Dixon, who has an almost religious fervour in his respect for the terminal's security rules.
* {{Tearjerker}}: Victor learning about the war from a news report. He can tell from the footage that something very bad is happening in his country, but since he doesn't speak English he can't get any context for the images, and desperately races around the airport trying to find a report he can understand.
* ValuesResonance / VindicatedByHistory: It was seen at the time as a forgettable Spielberg film about a fantastic situation. Come TheNewTens when immigration and refugees displaced from their lands is a key political issue again, as is the responsibility of governments and administrators to them, this film feels ahead of its time.

* ValuesResonance: It was seen at the time as a forgettable Spielberg film about a fantastic situation. Come TheNewTens when immigration and refugees displaced from their lands is a key political issue again, as is the responsibility of governments and administrators to them, this film feels ahead of its time.

* GeniusBonus: If you look closely, you can see that Navorski is holding Dr. Seuss' ''Oh, the Places You'll Go'' while talking to Amelia in a bookstore. Of course, it's quite ironic given his situation.

* RelationshipWritingFumble: Thanks to the other plotlines competing for space, Enrique and Dolores get engaged without it being clear that they've even gone on a date.

* HilariousInHindsight: In a sort of reverse CastingGag, the character of "Trekkie" Delores Torres is played by ZoeSaldana who within a few years would be cast in the StarTrek franchise (as Uhura, ''not'' Yeoman Rand). And ''then'', spinning on a few more years, DiegoLuna - the actor so adorkably geeking about discovering the sci-fi nerdom of the girl of his dreams - would be cast as the male lead in Film/RogueOne the first "anthology film" other Mega Sci-Fi franchise, StarWars (and being a shameless Star Wars PromotedFanboy about it too).

* HilariousInHindsight: ZoeSaldana, who plays Dolores, a diehard {{Trekkie}}, went on to play Lt. Uhura in ''Film/StarTrek''. And Diego Luna went on to star in ''Film/RogueOne''.

* HilariousInHindsight: ZoeSaldana, who plays Dolores, a diehard {{Trekkie}}, went on to play Lt. Uhura in ''Film/StarTrek''. And Diego Luna went on to star on ''Film/RogueOneAStarWarsStory''.

* ValuesResonance: It was seen at the time as a forgettable Spielberg film about a fantastic situation. Come TheNewTens when immigration and refugees displaced from their lands is a key political issue again, as is the responsibility of governments and administrators to them, this film feels ahead of its time.

* HilariousInHindsight: ZoeSaldana, who plays Dolores, a diehard {{Trekkie}}, went on to play Lt. Uhura in ''Film/StarTrek''.

* {{Tearjerker}}: Victor learning about the war from a news report. He can tell from the footage that something very bad is happening in his country, but since he doesn't speak English he can't get any context for the images, and desperately races around the airport trying to find a report he can understand.

* YouFailLawForever[=/=]HollywoodLaw: The whole story is predicated on the theory that if a country loses its recognition, the US will no longer accept its passports as valid. This is not necessarily true; typically, countries do not prevent the entry of citizens of countries they formerly recognized, although they may make it harder. For instance, it is very much possible to enter the US on a passport issued by the Islamic Republic of Iran, assuming that you've met the (very stringent) visa requirements, despite the fact that the US has not recognized Iran since 1979. The events in Krakozhia seem to be more or less equivalent, so Navorski's passport shouldn't have been a problem--and even if it were, it would have been a temporary one (the US might have placed a temporary entry ban on Krakozhians, but it wouldn't have lasted more than a few months at the most).
** Countries that have ''never'' been recognized are another story. This is why a Transnistrian will necessarily want to get a Russian, Ukrainian, or Moldovan passport in order to travel, as no generally-recognized country has ever recognized Transnistria.
** For reference, the person on whom ''The Terminal'' is based claimed to have documents allowing him to go to Britain, but also claimed to have lost the documents in a mugging. This may or may not have been true, but that's another story.

** For reference, the person on whom ''The Terminal'' is based claimed to have documents allowing him to go to Britain, but also claimed to have lost the documents in a mugging. This may or may not have been true, but that's another story.

* HilariousInHindsight: ZoeSaldana, who plays Dolores, a diehard Trekkie, went on to play Lt. Uhura in ''Film/StarTrek''.

* HilariousInHindsight: ZoeSaldana, who plays Dolores, a diehard Trekkie, went on to play Lt. Uhura in ''Film/StarTrek''.

* HilariousInHindsight: Zoe Saldana, who plays Dolores, a diehard Trekkie, went on to play Lt. Uhura in ''Film/StarTrek''.

* HilariousInHindsight: Zoe Saldana, who plays Dolores, a diehard Trekkie, went on to play Lt. Uhura in ''{{Film/StarTrek}}''.