This is a great movie - a real outsider for an Oscar!

Rating: 8/10 (26 January 2004)

I went to see this movie because the other movie I saw was so short I had time to kill, but I wasn't at all sure I would enjoy it - I was wrong, as per usual!
This film is great - it tells the story of two displaced foreigners trying to cope with spending time in Japan, when they would truthfully much rather be somewhere else.
Scarlett Johannson and Bill Murray are perfectly teamed - the age difference isn't even an issue because they acknowledge the difference in the story anyway.
Bill plays a famous actor who is reduced to promoting alcoholic drinks for very large sums of money because there isn't the work for him that there used to be, and Scarlett is the wife of a photographer who just came along on his trip for the ride. Both are bored silly by being in Japan, they don't understand what is going on half the time, or what people are saying to them and they both feel trapped by their lives.
Then they meet each other, and I won't say anything more except go and see this movie, or rent it on DVD, it's well worth it.
To be totally honest, the first 15 minutes are a little slow, but persevere, it's brilliant once you get into the story and this is Bill Murray's best work in a long time.
There should be Oscar nominations for this movie this week for definite - I would say best screenplay, possibly best director, best actor could be there, and best actress as well. It may well get overshadowed by all those big epic movies out there, but let's keep our fingers crossed!
This movie is a must-see for anyone who likes to watch movies that explore character's feelings, but is not for anyone who likes a lot of action - this is a thinkers movie!