Maybe I am wrong here, but I think some people forget that this is suppose to be a comedy, so I thought that the absurdity and shenanigans all worked in a cute comedic context.

Maybe I am wrong here, but I think some people forget that this is suppose to be a comedy, so I thought that the absurdity and shenanigans all worked in a cute comedic context.

I liked the movie, but I agree that they were a bit too unrealistic with the security/airport staffing elements.
One scene that had me rolling my eyes was when Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta Jones were having dinner and those three guys (who worked for the airport) all of a sudden were being like their waiters, especially with the one guy doing those plate tricks. I get it was supposed to be kind of a cute scene or whatever, but it was a bit overkill and borderline cringeworthy. They could have just left that out and have the dinner set up and ready to go and just progress with the scene without the other crap. Like who is gonna stay late to do all that stuff for some random immigrant they don't know? Almost no one. Not saying it's impossible, but extremely unlikely

Inspired by, not based on.

Chose to spend 18 years there

This is based on a true story where a passenger had to spend 18 years in the Charles De Galle airport.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehran_Karimi_Nasseri