A good film with occasional laughs

Rating: 8/10 (22 September 2005)

This is a very slow moving film with not much of a plot but it is sweet and funny at times so I do recommend it. It stars Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannson as two strangers who happen to be at a hotel in Tokyo, Japan at the same time. He is an actor doing a whiskey commercial and she is the wife of a photographer who is on a shoot. They are both alone there and eventually meet and become friends. Not lovers, but friends. That is one of the nicest things about the movie: They may be attracted to each other but the movie never really explores this in depth. They are just two lonely people wandering, together, around this hotel in Japan. And that's what the movie is about. They go to a party, sing karaoke and talk to each other about their lives. You will be surprised especially by Murray's performance.