Bored and Boring

Rating: 6/10 (12 December 2014)

If you like Pina Colada,
and other alcoholic drinks,
If you leave long pauses,
Cause it gives you time to think,
If you like bad Karaoke,
from collagenous lips,
You will love Japan,
where you never have to tip.
The basic plot is similar to Woody Allen's Manhattan. A beautiful young girl (married this time) has an affair with a much older man, primarily out of boredom, and because his gentle jokes help pass the time.
The movie start by discombobulating you by showing how madly different Japan is from America. The movie looks full of comic promise.
The movie slows to a snail's pace, and nothing happens. At least a lot less of interest happens than on my own explorations of foreign cities. The film feels sloppily and lazily ad-libbed.
The running joke is Japanese people persist in speaking Japanese, because they can't think of anything else to try to communicate with Americans. What is the matter with them? Why don't they speak the English?
The biggest mystery of the film is how did it come to be that a young married middle class couple are living in a luxury Japanese hotel next to faded 70's action star there filming a Japanese whiskey commercial.
The movie projects a mild racism, sneering at the Japanese, not as different, but as inferior. There is no affection or sympathy for them. They are often portrayed as robots or buffoons.
Scarlett Johansson as Charlotte was a good casting choice. She is extremely beautiful, without being flashy or glamorous. She has a unique wholesome look. She confused me only once when she donned a short pink wig, and I did not recognise her. I usually have a lot of trouble telling female actresses apart.
Bill Murray plays Bob Harris a faded, restrained, sad, hen-pecked, defeated character similar to Don Johnston in Broken Flowers, his earlier much more emotional and engaging film.
The moral of the story is, if you are bored, money will not help.