Based on all the hype--this wasn't that great

Rating: 6/10 (28 January 2004)

This is a movie about a dull self-centered person on a boring trip who is "not yet a girl, not yet a woman." (I believe Britney Spears already did a song about a girl in a similar predicament. Mercifully, that song was only a few minutes long while this movie is significantly longer.) Charlotte, our protagonist, has no talents of which she is aware ("I can't write, I can't take pictures"). To further accentuate her uselessness and lack of skills, she tells us she majored in philosophy. She tags along with her husband on a trip to Japan and while he actually WORKS and socializes, she sits sullenly in her hotel room staring out of window. Ho-hum. She does this a lot so get used to it. My major impulse through most of the movie was to slap the girl and tell her to "GET A DAMN LIFE." Oh, the troubles of being attractive, young, intelligent, with a cute husband who makes a lot of money and meets rock stars and movie stars. Oh, how horrible that existence must be. I do not blame the failings of this movie on Scarlett Johansson, a young woman who displays flashes of talent. She plays the part as gamely as she can. To make a whiny, boring person tolerable for over an hour is an accomplishment. The faults in this movie I pin squarely on the creator, Ms. Coppolla--a pampered, sheltered child of Hollywood.
Overall, it's not a horrible film. I just didn't think it was as good as the reviews led me to believe. On the plus side, Bill Murray gave a fantastic, disaffected performance of an actor just past his prime who is all too aware of it. The Japanese supporting cast is used stereotypically to some comic effect. Anna Faris is definitely a young comic actress to watch. Whether she meant it or not, her dead-on impersonation of Cameron Diaz made the movie jump alive.
To sum it up, this film will remind you of every boring vacation you've had in which you met one person who made it a more bearable experience but who in the grand scheme of things, didn't mean much other than a small memory.