Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald

"Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald" is funny, sweet, surprising, and laugh out loud funny. Character development is marvelous. The plot twists and turns in a delightful manner. Fast paced, yet connected. The characters are so well developed, it might well be better the second time around. The strength of the film is related to it's insightful view of how a group of individuals interact when time is precious. The film itself is a precious gem. The presentation is fresh, clear, and funny without attention to the "cute factor". I could certainly be labeled a "screwball comedy", but is much more than that. It is sensitive, it is gentle, it is so real.Grab the popcorn and your favorite squeeze, and have a ball.

Being a fan of Juzo Itami, I went to see "Welcome Back Mr. McDonald" (English title) expecting a dark comedy. I was pleasantly surprised. Though Mitani's film is much lighter than Itami's "Marusa no Onna" for example, I still was laughing out loud along with everyone else in the theatre over scenes like the Gameboy(tm)-playing security guard teaching frantic techies how to create the sound of a dam breaking over a mountain village with rice and a styrofoam cup. This is a cleverly filmed, intelligently written, and well-acted movie. I just wish recent films from Japan like "Rajio no Jikan", "Mononoke Hime" and "After Life" were given the credit they deserve in the United States.

I bought the last available ticket to see Welcome Back, Mr McDonald this evening, having been unsuccessful at obtaining one for Love Letter. Maybe because I chanced upon this film, not having any expectations, I enjoyed it tremendously. Sure the film has some stock comic characters and stock comic situations and the premise (message?) may strike a chord in every struggling artiste's heart, but the grit with which this film is made is heartwarming. A novice playwright's maiden radio play gets torn to shreds by the powers that be as she hangs on, flailingly, to the emotion that she hopes to convey. A film that reminds us that our heart yearns for the underdog while our mind rationalises the behaviour of the seemingly tyrannical, this film reminds us of what movies are meant to be: an adventure where at the end you can't help but exclaim.

If it were possible I'd give this film a higher score.

When I visited Japan in 1997 I saw a TV program that previewed this movie. I had always remembered what the film was about, but I had long forgotten the title of the film and I had never seen it in the United States as the big city I live in isn't big enough for films like this.

Fast forward to late 2009 when my wife and I decided to go to our local library to borrow films to watch. We were looking for Japanese films that we hadn't seen, and this was one of them. I couldn't believe I had finally found the film I was searching for.

This is a great film and is laugh out loud from start to finish. I had to look at some scenes a second and third time to catch the action I had missed from laughing. Of course, for the week I had it I watched it several more times!

The fact that this is a screwball comedy means that action takes place in the background as well as directly in front of the camera. Therefore, it is necessary to look fast and catch all the action, or rewind and watch it again and again and again.

If you like to laugh this film fills the bill very nicely. Not many people can pull off the high quality of this type of film. This film is my new all time favorite movie.

I wish I hadn't had to wait so long to find it. In my opinion, on a scale of 1 to 100 I proudly give this film 1,000,000! (I'm not paid to say this.)

Happy viewing, and don't eat or drink anything while watching this film...you'll choke.

Are one of those people who believes that Japan can only make movies about the Yakuza, or such topics? Then look no further than "Rajio no jikan" (called "Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald" in English)! A radio station in Tokyo is broadcasting a love story. It goes smoothly at first, but then they keep rewriting it. From there, their broadcast gets progressively crazier and crazier.

Boy! How they came up with that stuff is beyond me, but they did it. The English title comes from...well, I don't want to spoil that scene. The point is that you gotta see this movie if you can find it anywhere. It hearkens back to movies like "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and "The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming", with the way that something seemingly small branches out into total lunacy. Absolutely hilarious.