A turgid waste of talent, one of the most boring films I've ever seen

Rating: Null/10 (22 January 2004)

Having read some mixed reviews (mostly positive it must be said) and being a fan of Bill Murray I sat in the cinema with optimistic hopes of a good couple of hours entertainment - how wrong can you be? Long ago I made a small vow to myself to never give up on a book or a film once started and up to now and with some pain it has to be said I've managed to keep to this maxim. This film is perhaps the closest I have come to breaking it.
I don't tend to miss the point in films too often but this one must have cruised well over my head if there is some kind of hidden message. The story is well publicised and in essence revolves around an older man and a younger woman stranded in an alien environment and unfulfilling relationships. The films lives and dies by this dynamic. Scarlett Johanssen is certainly a talented and beautiful new talent but she seems to struggle to fill the screen time she is given, especially during the sequences where, bored, she goes off to explore Japan's hidden delights. Two things here, the audience don't need to share the boredom to such an extreme level and if I wanted a travel show about Tokyo I'd watch the Holiday channel. Bill Murray is given little to work with in terms of comedy and so the smiles (not many laughs to be found here) are few and far between.
*Mini-spoiler but you probably already know this bit!* All parties try so hard to avoid the cliche of the Lolita syndrome but in my view the relationship the two main characters display would inevitably lead to usual outcome - the fact that is doesn't didn't leave me thinking 'wow that's original' more that it was completely unrealistic. I must say the environment of the big impersonal international hotel was captured brilliantly , along with the strangeness of Japanese society to the Western eye, but this did not save the film for me. A waste of talent, a lost opportunity and a very, very boring film to boot.