The Accidental Tourist Trivia Quiz

Answer: She is leaving him.

Macon returns home from a business trip to find his wife waiting for him at the kitchen table. "You know I love you," she tells him, "but I can't live with you anymore." Sarah has rented an apartment downtown, and wants a divorce. Macon puts up a token resistance, but he doesn't seem very surprised by Sarah's revelation, as their marriage has been strained ever since the death of their son, Ethan, a little over a year ago. "Macon, I know you loved Ethan," Sarah says, "and I know you mourn him, but there's something so... muffled about the way you experience things - it's as if you were trying to slip through life unchanged." She informs him that she needs to go if she is to have any hope of making a life for herself after the death of their son.

Answer: A flying armchair

Macon's travel guides are written for travel-weary businessmen, and are filled with tips designed to make their business trips as painless as possible. The logo on the cover of all of his books is a comfortable-looking armchair that has sprouted a pair of white, feathery wings. Macon's publisher, Julian, explains the logo's meaning during a flashback in the film. "These folks would rather be at home in their living rooms, so you will be helping them to pretend that that's where they are," he tells Macon, as he shows him the design of the logo. "While armchair travelers dream of going places, traveling armchairs dream of staying put."

Macon's wife, Sarah, provides a different perspective on the amusing logo. "It's not by chance you write those silly books telling people how to make trips without a jolt, so they can travel to the most wonderful, exotic places in the world and never be touched by them; never feel they've left home. That traveling armchair isn't just your logo - it's you."

Answer: She offers to train Edward.

Muriel seems to sense that Macon requires rescuing, and takes it upon herself to help him. When she learns that Edward had bitten someone at his usual kennel, she offers to train him for Macon. "I don't know if I mentioned before that it so happens I train dogs," she says to Macon when he comes to pick up Edward. "My specialty is dogs that bite. I can handle anything - biters, barkers, dogs that haven't been treated right. Even split-personality. I can train him in no time not to bite other people." Macon doesn't really know what to make of the offer from this strange, talkative woman, and politely takes his leave.

Answer: He slips on the skateboard and breaks his leg.

At first, the addition of wheels to the laundry basket seems like an inspired idea, as it allows Macon to transport the laundry without having to bend down to pick up the basket. Unfortunately for Macon, the family dog, who is already afraid of the basement, becomes spooked when the washing machine changes cycles while Macon is doing the laundry.

The frightened dog leaps into Macon's arms, causing him to lose his balance and stumble backwards. He slips on the wheeled laundry basket and falls at an awkward angle, breaking his leg in the process.

Answer: They rescue all sorts of animals.

Part of the reason Sarah gives Macon for leaving him is that she could feel herself "becoming a Leary". When Macon moves in with his brothers and sister, we are given some insight into what that might entail. The four siblings play a strange, bridge-like card game known as "Vaccination", which involves playing tricks and calling out words like "bedpan", "disinfectant" and "hypodermic".

When Macon expresses a desire to remain unconnected from the rest of the world, his siblings resolve not to answer the telephone, so that no one will discover Macon's whereabouts.

They also have an obsessive-compulsive method of eating a baked potato, and arrange their groceries in the cupboards in alphabetical order, although they don't always see eye to eye on whether a packet of pasta should be filed under "N" for "noodles" or "E" for "elbow macaroni".

Answer: He is bitten by Edward.

Edward is the feisty little Welsh corgi that is the agent for many events in the film. After Sarah leaves him, she moves into an apartment that doesn't allow pets, so Macon has to board Edward during a business trip, which is how he meets Muriel. Later, Edward's aggressive behavior takes a turn for the worse, and he chases Julian up a tree and then bites Macon's hand. Macon's brother, Porter, and Julian both advise him to get rid of the dog, but Macon can't bring himself to do that because Edward was Ethan's dog.

It is Rose who suggests sending Edward to obedience school, so Macon decides to reach out to Muriel for help.

Answer: The turkey

Macon and Charles sneak a peek at the turkey while it is in the oven, and conclude that it is being cooked at "a slightly inadequate temperature". Fearing a severe case of food poisoning, the boys voice their concerns at the dinner table by advising everyone present to stick to the side dishes.

This is particularly embarrassing for Rose because all this happens in front of Julian, Macon's publisher, who has developed feelings for Rose. "You don't fool me for an instant," announces Rose to everyone at the dinner table. "I know why you're doing this. You want to make me look bad in front of Julian. You want to drive him off. You three wasted your chances and now you want me to waste mine but I won't do it. ... You don't want me to stop cooking for you and taking care of this house. You don't want Julian to fall in love with me." Rose is mortified when she realizes her inadvertent admission, and hurriedly leaves the room. We learn later that Julian ate two big helpings of Rose's turkey and didn't fall ill.

Answer: No

Macon pens a rather uninspired note to convey his regrets for missing dinner, but he is confronted by Muriel when he tries to leave the note under her door. "I've got a double barrel shotgun and I'm aiming it exactly where your head is," she calls out from inside her house. Macon identifies himself to Muriel, and she opens the door and reads the note. Macon is left with no choice but to explain his behavior to Muriel. "Last year I experienced a loss. I lost my son.

He went into a hamburger joint, and someone came - a hold up man - and shot him," he tells her. "I can't go to dinner with people. I can't talk to their little boys. You have to stop asking me. I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I'm just not up to this." Muriel takes Macon into her house and hugs him silently, as he continues to tell her about Ethan.

She slowly leads him up to her bedroom, undresses him and puts him to bed. "Just sleep," she tells him. "Lie down and sleep." Macon and Muriel begin a relationship from that point forward, and Macon starts to spend a lot of time with Muriel and her son.

Answer: He takes Alexander rock-climbing.

Muriel wants Macon to spend time with Alexander because she feels that her son doesn't have a strong male influence in his life. As it turns out, Macon also benefits from his involvement with Alexander. He teaches Alexander to fix the faucet, despite Muriel's reservations, and boosts the boy's self-esteem in the process.

He also takes Alexander shopping for clothes, where he runs into a friend of Ethan's and his mother. The encounter is awkward and slightly uncomfortable, but Macon handles it well. Macon takes Edward out for a walk and sees Alexander in a side street, trying to catch up with some boys from school, who call him names and leave him behind. Macon sends Edward running to Alexander to comfort him, before walking up to him himself and taking his hand.

In a voiceover narration, Macon recites a passage from his book that is oddly appropriate to the situation: "Even the most disciplined professional traveler may sometimes stumble across that unexpected item he feels he simply must take home. That's fine, as long as one is willing to accept the inconvenience and awkwardness that come with each additional piece of baggage."

Answer: Alexander's education

Macon announces one day that he doesn't think Alexander is getting a proper education because he couldn't work out the change from buying some milk. He thinks that Alexander should switch to a private school, and offers to pay for it. Muriel is quick to jump on Macon for making this statement. "What are you saying, Macon? Are you saying you're committed?" she inquires. "Alexander's got 10 more years of school ahead of him. Are you saying you'll be around for all 10 years?" Muriel's questioning segues into her true area of concern. "Just tell me this," she asks. "Do you picture us getting married sometime?" When Macon gives a noncommittal answer, Muriel really lets him have it. "You don't know what you want," she says pointedly. "You think you can just go along like this, no plans. Maybe tomorrow you'll be here, and maybe you won't. Maybe you'll just go on back to Sarah." Macon can't believe that this tirade is triggered by his innocent comment about Alexander's schooling. "All I'm saying is take care what you promise my son," Muriel says. "Don't go making him any promises you don't intend to keep."

Answer: Rose and Julian's wedding

With the future of Macon's relationship with Muriel uncertain, Macon begins to reconnect with Sarah. They see each other at Rose and Julian's wedding, after Rose asks Sarah to be her matron of honor without informing Macon. When Sarah's lease expires, she moves back into the house that she used to share with Macon, and the two begin to talk on the phone during Macon's many business trips.

When Sarah asks Macon to give their marriage another try, he agrees and moves back in with her, and they slip back into the comfortable routine of their married life.

In contrast to her attitude at the start of the film, Sarah seems more confident that they can make their relationship work this time. "Macon, I think when two people have been married as long as we have, maybe it's just meant to be," she says. "Anything different just doesn't feel right."

Answer: He tells Julian to give Rose a job.

Rose and Julian have not been married for very long, when Rose leaves him to take care of Charles and Porter. She is concerned that they are not eating properly, so she moves back home and resorts to delivering casseroles to Julian in his lonely apartment. A desperate Julian turns to Macon for advice. "I'm afraid that she's left me, and not even for any reason," confides Julian. "My marriage was working out fine, but she wore herself a groove or something in that house of hers and she can't help but swerve back into it."

Macon thinks about the problem for a moment, before telling Julian what he should do. "Why don't you give her a job, Julian?" he says. "Tell her your business is going to pieces. Ask her if she'd just come in and help get things organized, get things under control. Put it that way, use those words." The advice works like a charm. When Macon calls Julian's office from Paris, the phone is answered by Rose, who has started working there to get the office in order.

Answer: He puts his back out.

"You don't own this plane, and you don't own Paris," Muriel tells Macon, when he sees Muriel boarding the same flight as him. She even shows up in the same hotel as Macon, and pops by his room unannounced to show him the bargains she found at "the granddaddy of all garage sales". Muriel's obvious excitement about being in Paris is comically contrasted against Macon's cynical attitude towards the city in these scenes.

She implores Macon to take her with him when he begins his coverage of the other cities outside Paris, and tells him to sleep on it.

Unfortunately, Macon puts his back out while trying to fix the phone in his room, and is lying in bed in pain the next morning when Muriel arrives at his door. He begins to answer her knocking, then decides against it. Muriel leaves, thinking that Macon has left without her.

Answer: Yes

After Macon injures his back, Sarah arrives to help him complete the research for his book and discovers Muriel at the hotel. She argues with Macon and tells him that he could have taken steps to stop her from following him. After Macon decides to go back to Muriel, he packs his things and wakes Sarah just as he is about to leave. "I'm sorry, Sarah," he tells her. "I tried but I can't make this work. You were right about me - I haven't taken steps very often, but maybe it's not too late for me to start." He tells Sarah that when he saw her at Rose's wedding, he could tell that she had recovered from Ethan's death and had gone on with her life, something which he tried to do, but couldn't accomplish on his own. "This woman," he explains, referring to Muriel, "this odd woman helped me.

She's given me another chance to decide who I am; to step out of the Leary groove and stay out. You don't need me - we both know that. But I need her." When Sarah asks Macon if he thinks it was a mistake for them to try again, Macon assures her that it wasn't. "No, it's wrong to think we can plan everything, as though it were a business trip. I don't believe that anymore. Things just happen."

Answer: On the street outside their hotel

Macon leaves his hotel on foot lugging his carry-on bag, which proves too heavy for him to handle in his injured state. He eventually abandons his bag on the side of the road, keeping only the photo of Ethan that resides in the front pocket, and goes on his way. Just then, he spots a Parisian boy getting out of a cab, which he flags to take him to the airport.

As he boards the cab, Macon can't help noticing that the boy bears a slight resemblance to Ethan, and is about the age Ethan would be if he were still alive.

The cab proceeds up the street, but has to make a U-turn because the airport is in the opposite direction. As the cab rolls slowly back the way it came, Macon takes one final look at his ersatz son, as if to say goodbye. The cab approaches the hotel, and from a distance Macon spots Muriel on the side of the road with all her luggage and shopping bags, trying to hail a cab.

He gets the cab to stop for Muriel, who turns to gather her belongings, only to stop when she realizes that the cab is occupied.

The film ends with Muriel breaking into a wide smile as she looks past the glare of light reflecting off the cab's windscreen to see Macon sitting in the back seat, smiling back at her.