Or, Watching Bored, Boring People Do Boring Things

Rating: 4/10 (15 March 2004)

I just don't understand all the hype about this movie. Yeah, I got the deep messages about marriage, life, and living in another culture like you're a fish out of water, but the movie comes up short in delivery or just doesn't have enough to deliver to begin with. Sure the girl and her photographer husband love each other, sure Bill Murray loves his kids, sure they don't identify with Japanese culture, sure they had a brief relationship they might remember the rest of their lives, but this film just plods along with its dull characters.
Look, I read quite a bit of Pulitzer and Nobel prize-winning literature and I like an artsy movie (Amelie, The Hours, Howard's End [slow but good, sure, I get ya], Remains of the Day, Delicatessen, In the Company of Men), but I need a story that takes less than five minutes to tell.
Lost in Translation is no Passion Fish, my friends, nay, no Adaptation (and I understand why you wouldn't like the second of these). Watch Lawrence of Arabia again or pop in some David Mamet. Do yourself a favor and skip this. Trust me!