Enjoyable And Innocent

Rating: 7/10 (29 November 2009)

What's most appealing about this movie is the innocence of the relationship between Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson). The opening half hour or so of the movie sets the stage well for what's to come. Both Bob and Charlotte are essentially "fish out of water" characters. Bob is a movie star who's in Tokyo to shoot some commercials, while Charlotte is a young and recent Philosophy graduate who came to Tokyo with her photographer husband who then leaves her for a photo shoot. They're both lost in this strange, foreign city, and while they share that, they're developed very differently. Bob's story is semi-comic, watching him trying to understand his Japanese director and generally adjust to this bewildering city while at the same time contemplating what seems to be a more and more distant marriage, while Charlotte is more of a sad character, alone and lost and also questioning the direction she's taken and her marriage. Eventually, the two of them meet in the hotel bar and develop a semi-romantic and yet always innocent relationship as they help each other deal with their loneliness.
This probably could have been developed as a straight romance. In spite of the obvious age difference, Murray and Johansson worked well together and seemed to share a real chemistry, and yet going the innocent route was the right decision. There was a sweetness and even innocent intimacy to their relationship. The innocent intimacy shone brilliantly in a simple scene where they lie fully clothed beside each other in bed, Johansson curled up in a sort of fetal position and sharing her fears of inadequacy, while Murray merely reaches down and strokes her foot. To me, that summed up what they were about together as they helped each other cope with their plights. I found myself wondering if their relationship was going to move to a physical level, and yet spent most of the movie hoping that it wouldn't because that would have spoiled what made this movie work.
Murray and Johansson both offered excellent performances in a movie that is simply enjoyable to watch. 7/10