andiam123

I've seen this film just once, but it's already one of my favorite films of all time. I was totally involved from the very beginning. I felt like a kid watching a Western; I wanted to yell at the screen, "Don't let her get away again." The dialogue is perfect and appears almost improvised. These are real people.

I have a fantasy--though I know it will never happen--that this film will get Oscar nominations for best film and best actors, male and female.

If you've ever wondered about the one who got away, you're bound to love this film.

I'm sorry, but I can't join the groundswell of praise for this film. I couldn't wait for it to be over. It was supposed to be a tender love story, but I never saw any real chemistry between the two lead characters. What this pretty young woman sees in this washed-up actor is beyond me. The dialogue never really establishes any chemistry between the two lead characters. As for the actors, I give it a split decision. Bill Murray gives a one-note performance as a bored middle-aged man. He reminds me of his character in the first half of "Groundhog Day," without the growth we see later in the film. I had the feeling he was as bored as the character he portrays. Scarlet Johanssen, on the other hand, rises above her mediocre material. She gets visibly more attractive as the film progresses. I wonder why the director--a woman--seemed so obsessed with Charlotte's body. She spends a lot of time in her underwear. The opening scene--a prolonged view of her backside covered by nearly transparent panties--seems there for titillation only. (For that matter, why do the two of them meet in a strip joint? Just to show off some Japanese woman's physique?) Also, the film is condescending toward the Japanese. Do we want to tell the Japanese that this is how we view them? Granted, some of the satire is directed at the Americans. When the hospital clerk assumes that they speak Japanese, this seems to be a satiric comment on the way Americans assume that everyone speaks English if we speak slowly and loudly enough. But it seems we are intended to sympathize with the "poor" Americans instead of laughing at their ineptness at confronting a foreign culture.

Why did I give this film a "10"? Well, to begin with, the computer wouldn't let me give it a "12." It's been ages since a film gave me such a feeling of complete joy. To think of an equivalent, I'd have to go back to its real-life counterpart and possible inspiration, "Wasn't That a Time?" For those of us old enough to live through the folk era, this film was a reminder of all that was good about the music of the time. I immediately bought the CD and have been wearing out the repeat button on my player listening to my favorites over and over. Since there are no leading actors, this film might not do well at Oscar time, but the award programs that have an ensemble-acting category might give this gifted cast the attention they deserve. At least three of the songs deserve best-song nominations--and I say that with confidence in May. It may not be as funny as "Best in Show," but it has more heart. Before it was over I was wiping a few tears from my eyes.