Pretty bad - I'm lost!

Rating: 4/10 (24 May 2009)

Why would someone direct a movie like this one is really beyond me. Bill Murray acts predictably - same funny jokes as in other movies, not bad. That's the only good part. Movie starts off with a camera focused on see-through panties of the main heroine, and yes you can see her buttocks clearly well. Then camera fades away and dives into a movie. Why the scene? No reason. Never explained. She continues to wear those panties throughout the movie, why? I guess she is hip or something. There are quite a few disjointed, unexplained scenes like that. No, I don't need everything spelled out for me, but such scenes which mean nothing at all and should've been cut are just stupid. As some other reviewers said, this movie makes fun of Japanese like crazy, even to the point of plain stupidity. For someone who said that this movie is 'down to earth', this statement is wrong. This movie is the pop culture of the day, from beginning to end. This is reflected in explicit content, such as nudity (which is a part of Japanese culture, indeed), but is not necessary for the movie's story. Bill Murray is supposed to be married and is in his mid-life crisis, and while on his trip to Japan, sleeps with another woman, then in the end, flirts with the main heroine and then returns back to America to his beloved wife. Is this not the pop culture of the day? Sex with no consequences, behind back of your partner. This movie is about pop culture and promotes it, is not down to earth, but just down. The movie is boring. It has no story of any kind, doesn't end the story in any way, they both return back home, after having cheated on their spouses and having made fun of Japanese culture and Bill is still in his mid-life crisis, and the girl is still unable to sleep, or whatever her problem is. No point in watching this movie. It is relatively short, has some charm, but ultimately no story. It's downsides (racistic humour, pop culture all over the place, disjointed scenes which add nothing to the movie) outweigh it's positives (lots of scenes depicting Japanese culture, Bill Murray's humour).