Worth seeing, but not spectacular...

Rating: 7/10 (10 February 2004)

This film is about the bond developed between between two people while spending time in Tokyo. Both characters seem somewhat confused about life, and this seems to be what draws them together. Overall, I thought this was a good movie, but not a great movie. The performances by Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson were wonderfully executed. I often got the sense that I was not watching two actors exchange dialogue, but instead was eaves-dropping on a real conversation. The film was creatively shot and visually interesting. There were a couple of very funny scenes, but I'm not sure if I would classify this movie as a comedy.
Ultimately, the positive attributes mentioned above could not make up for a lackluster story. I found neither character to be particularly likable in the end. I found the brief glimpses of Japanese culture to be one of the more interesting aspects of the movie. The story largely ignored this.
This movie is worth seeing, but in my opinion was a bit over-hyped. 7/10.