Great idea, great hype, mediocre film

Rating: Null/10 (6 April 2004)

Well, I can't begin to tell you how much I had been persuaded to watch this movie, and it would be a lie to say I didn't enjoy it. But it most definitely didn't match my predictions of how good I had heard it was. The awful culture shock was very well acted by both main actors, but it was a very slow storyline.
I enjoyed the fairly inconclusive and ambiguous ending. And for anyone who hasn't seen the movie yet I won't spoil it for you. But don't go into this film with high expectations, as it'll be a real anticlimax if you do.
There is a fantastic performance by Bill Murray, whom I first saw in Tootsie, and Scarlett Johansson is definitely worthy of a round of applause also for breaking off her, erm, lets say "Home Alone phase" into her "Girl With a Pearl Earring and Lost In Translation phase".
To round things up. A fairly good film, good acting, but is it really worth being in the top 250?
OVERALL RATING: **/*** out of 5