This is what could be described as a guilty displeasure. You feel that you ought to like it - it's liberal, pro-underdog, well-intentioned, on the side of the angels etc. etc. - but it's boring.

Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins of Six Feet Under fame) is a rather dour and introverted economics professor in Connecticut. His wife died five years ago, and his life lacks purpose. He returns to his vacant New York flat for the first time in months, and discovers that an undocumented immigrant couple is living there. The young man, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), is a Syrian Palestinian, and Zainab (Danai Gurira) is Senegalese. Rather than throwing them out on their ears, as one might expect, Walter overcomes his fleeting alarm and allows them to stay until they find a place of their own. Then of course they bond, particularly when Tarek starts teaching failed piano student Walter how to play the djembe (African drums). Everything trots along merrily until Tarek is apprehended in a subway station, and taken to an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) detention centre. Walter is the only person who is allowed to visit him, and that includes Tarek's mother Mouna (Hiam Abbass), who turns up in search of him. Mouna and Walter get on well, so there's a romantic undercurrent...

The Visitor is terminally worthy, and rather bland. No doubt it's a good idea to shed light on America's over-zealous post-9/11 immigration and detention policies, but that doesn't automatically make for a good film. There are a couple of passable dramatic moments featuring awkward interactions, and it does have a strong ending, but basically it's torpid and unimpressive.