As Engaging As A Friend's Vacation Video

Rating: Null/10 (3 February 2004)

Lost in Translation lost my interest. I don't get all the fuss. This movie draws you in as much as a vacation video would. There are many extremely long, drawn out scenes where absolutely nothing happens. Gee, she's sitting in a room for ten minutes...again. She's walking around for five minutes...again. I've got nothing against subtle and simple, but this is just plain boring!
Despite being classified by the Globes as a comedy, it's not. It's about two miserable people and their miserable marriages. It's not even a quirky dark comedy. It's just sad, miserable people leading sad, miserable lives.
The majority of the "comedy" stems from the joke that Japanese culture is wacky, weird and different from America. Look! They use fifty words to say five! Ha Ha Ha. Look! Their TV shows are strange! Ha Ha Ha. Look! their video games are odd! Ha Ha Ha. Look! They like karaoke. Ha Ha Ha. Aren't the Japanese so silly and stupid?!
the movie is filled with beautiful postcard shots of Tokyo--but I could get that from a travel brochure.
I assume it's getting a lot of attention because of the "insider' stuff. So many American actors travel to other countries to shoot commercials, the Hollywood community can relate to the vacation video. Either that, or they just want to congratulate themselves on liking something that's artsy.

Bottom line: it's boring and trite and not at all worth your time.