Huh?

Rating: 3/10 (23 July 2016)

This movie feels like it should be better than it is. The production values and soundtrack are pretty, but I kept asking myself why it was lingering on stories that seemed either inconsequential or off-putting. In the first place, there's Colin Firth's character trying to build a relationship despite a serious language barrier (lots of room for abuse,) but the subplot that most repulsed me was the one involving the guys going to America to meet women. They find a number of hot women in a bar who instantly want to have sex. I'm NOT exaggerating! You might call me shallow for complaining about the men in this situation being unmatched in terms of attractiveness with the women, but hear me out. This would be all well and good if the ugly male/hot female pairing weren't so inescapable in pop culture while you're hard pressed to find the reverse. Mostly, when someone uses this trope, they are exploiting the double standard by which men judge women's worth based only on their appearances. Maybe I need to get out more, but I can't imagine any woman acting like the American women in the bar do when they meet those guys. As a woman myself, I should know.
What about the rest of the movie? For whatever reason--I don't know whether it's the fault of the movie or me--I wasn't emotionally invested in most of the characters. I feel that the different story lines are too disparate to coexist within the same movie. Here is another part I couldn't accept: Sam's crush on Joanna is treated as SPESHUL, but we don't find out what Joanna thinks of him! He acts kind of like a stalker in the airport scene.
The random nudity is not only unnecessary, but disturbing, contributing to my suspicion of the movie being exploitative in the wrong ways. Not even the subplot with Alan Rickman's character made me want to watch it ever again; you feel guilty if you identify with Mia (the woman pursuing him) rather than Emma Thompson's character. In this case, the large number of dynamic screen presences is no match for the baffling, ho-hum writing.