Indifferent

Rating: 5/10 (3 July 2004)

I try to understand why this film is so trumpeted yet a lot of the points raised as to why this film is sublime are simply untrue: They say it's funny- well no it isn't - there are very few jokes or particularly humorous moments in the film and certainly if you are a fan of Murray don't expect the usual ream of wisecracks. It has no plot and very little happens, Tokyo as a backdrop never really integrates with the characters and they seem condescending to the Japanese and their "Engrish" (how well can these Americans speak Japanese?). The supporting characters are caricatures with little depth (Johansson's screen husband is often described in reviews as flippant or self obsessed but there's little actual screen evidence for this or the motivation of any characters but the two leads). The central performances are fantastic but the story is so slow burning with so little happening that I failed to care at all. The film seemed vague, insubstantial and to be honest, dull.