A soundtrack in search of a movie

Rating: 1/10 (22 October 2006)

There is no reason to see this movie other than to be able to say you saw it before panning it as the self-indulgent, pretentious claptrap that it it is. I have never seen anyone go from 60 to zero the way this director does from "Lost in Translation" to this bomb. Loving attention is given to set and costumes, for sure, but so what? As a movie, as an exercise in visual story-telling, with characters and a plot that matters, it is an abject failure. You end up rather promptly not caring about any of the characters and wishing the movie would end, soon. Even if you step back and try to understand what the director/writer was trying to accomplish, it is hard to believe this hit the mark. The movie is pointlessness and witlessness and visual lard, punctuated by some cool songs that are clearly intended to overcome the pointlessness and witlessness and visual lard. What a shame. I do think I will download some of the songs from the soundtrack. Don't waste your time or money seeing the movie, however.