yes it happens but so what?

Rating: 6/10 (12 December 2003)

I kept waiting for this movie to have substance. Would the mismatched couple who find each other in a strange land connect on some meaningful level? Or would they find that the marriages they had were not so bad - that they had been expecting too much? Something. Instead, the only thing they really had was loneliness - in marriage and in a foreign country where they didn't know or understand the culture. So they found someone who feels roughly the same ... 90% of all in their situation, probably do. Of course two people from the same culture would connect when having a life crisis amidst strangers.
Although I appreciate the subtleties in the acting, the way Murray and Johansson communicate non-verbally, I didn't see many levels of understanding. What does he know about Ivy League and philosophy? Nothing. What does she know about being a middle aged, family man or acting? Do they have anything at all to talk about? Is life all about such unspoken connections or are those mostly illusions? I have been in similar situations several times and have come to realize that feelings of connectedness are natural but fade completely from memory and turn out to be silly mirages, later. The film would have done better to focus on how we imagine we've found someone special under such circumstances, but it's really just common humanity from a familiar country. Under any other circumstances, the relationship would fall like a house of cards. This "story" is really just a portrait of dissatisfaction, dislocation and drifting among travelers. So they felt like they found a life raft in a sea of emptiness. Most of us know better. The movie made way too much out of nothing, in my opinion. But the acting was very good, given the lack of script.
How I wish Americans (my people) would learn to study and appreciate other languages and cultures more, so that this mentality of looking for ways to avoid strange foreigners is not so common.