Less is really less

Rating: 1/10 (6 April 2004)

After watching this film, I came away the idea that everyone who liked this film had woke up with a horse's head the next morning. The dialogue was downright pathetic and so was the acting. The "look-how-quirky-the Japanese-are" was as unoriginal as it was boring. Bill Murray has done the same character for all of his recent films, some of which his character was better suited such films as Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums by Wes Anderson. Scarlett Johansson has the same shtick, pout her lips, say very little, and hope that people don't notice she really can't act. For a character supposedly being a Yale graduate in philosophy, one would think they would show they had actually learned something. Did people actually believe Ribisi was a) her husband; b) a photographer on assignment in Japan? I actually thought he was her little brother. This film should have never been nominated for any of the awards, much less come away with best screenplay. That award should have gone to American Splendor, a far better film about two people in a relationship, and with far better dialogue and story. It seems like Sophia believes that understatement is the way to fool the critics by letting them believe there is more to her, but I do believe by the next film, they will be shocked to the lack of talent and depth in Sophia's film-making.