Rating: 
Summary: Majorly disappointing, awful
Review: I don't care how many good things I've heard about this movie. It had like three funny parts (hello!, it was supposed to be a comedy). I heard it was a great movie, so I rented it. It was horrible, I hated it an awful lot. Lost In Translation was very boring, the directing may have been pretty good, and I didn't mind Scarlette Johanson so much, but still thought it was really boring. However, I like that Giovanni Ribsi was a member of the cast, he's a good actor and I don't see much of him. You're also probably thinking if I didn't like it, why am I taking time to review it, well I thought I'd just let everyone know it was bad, before they wasted money.
Rating: 
Summary: Hands down the Best movie of 2003
Review: I have always loved Bill Murray but this is by far not only his best acting but also the best acting of the year. The storyline is beautiful and the cinematography is great. Buy it!
Rating: 
Summary: A pretty good movie all together.
Review: "Lost In Translation" is actually a pretty good movie, if you like the "friendship" kind of movie. The idea is genius, I think. But for some it isn't all that great and it's easy to see why for some. But some movies I go see for the soul purpose of enjoying it. Perhaps the reason why not so many seem to like it here is because of all the hype. It happens to the best of movies that receive a lot of hype (The Matrix Reloaded comes to mind). Lost In Translation DID receive a lot of hype, with an oscar nominee for Best Picture, Director, Actor and Screenplay, it generated a lot of hype and made a lot of people want to go out and see this movie. Well, hype tends to disappoint people and so I tried to view the movie with as litle expectations as possible, and to my surprise, it worked. Bill Murray plays a man named Bob Harris who flies off to Toyko to shoot a commercial. His wife and kids are back in a America while he goes to Toyko to shoot this commercial. Scarlet Johansen plays the wife of a world-wide photographer who is in Toyko on business. The two meet in a bar in Toyko and soon become friends. Perhaps what really IS interesting about the movie is their age difference. Bill Murray is a middle-aged man and Scarlet Johansen is young. So the chemistry is in fact odd. The characters are stale though. We don't learn much about them and actually that symbolizes just what the movie IS. Both of our protagonists are lonely mentally and that's what "Lost In Translation" is all about. Then there's the plot... well the movie doesn't really have a plot. However, a movie doesn't have to present a plot to be good. As long as the story unfolds in a believeable and interesting way, it can more than make up for the lack of an actual plot. My gripes with the movie. I may not live in Toyko but it seems the movie is full of stereotypes! The fact that they show Japanese as not being able to speak as well of English and the whole bit about them not being as tall as westerners is nothing but stereotypes! I don't mind that they joked around but its the fact that well...the movie wasn't really funny at all. They call this a comedy but its not. Lost in Translation isn't a bad movie, it's just been given to much hype which utterly ruins the experience of the movie. It's a great film and Bill Murry gives one of the best performances ever. A good movie but it isn't really a comedy.
Rating: 
Summary: A good character drama, but nothing special.
Review: There are some movies where the story, background, and other important devices are totally superfluous, and the only focal point is the characters. "Lost in Translation" is just such a movie. It would probably have worked just as well as a stage play, considering that the movie is basically about two characters. While the praise and Oscar nods may have raised my expectations, I found this movie to be average and insubstantial, but with good performances that elevate it from the status of a fluff piece. Bill Murray plays perhaps his best performance as Bob Harris, a middle-aged actor who has past his prime, no longer happy in his marriage, and doing a whisky advertisement in Tokyo. Scarlett Johansson plays Charlotte, a recent university graduate who is at a loss for what to do with her life, and has come to Tokyo with her husband, a celebrity photographer, hoping that the change of scenery will spark something within her. Of course, it doesn't. Both are in similar states of drudgery, and in Japan, a culture so far removed from their own, their unhappiness takes centre stage. Predictably, the two hit it off and find life in each other, even though it is known from the start that nothing can happen between the two of them. They are both married (albeit unhappily), and one is old enough to be the other's father. They story is very simple, how two people in a strange environment can find each other. I didn't walk away from this movie feeling uplifted or saddened, which was disappointing considering all the critical hoopla surrounding it. Bill Murray is the main attraction here, taking a lead from other comedic actors who are making a switch to more dramatic roles in their autumn years. He is really good here, playing a more subdued role, while still maintaining a dry sense of humor. Scarlett Johansson is also good in her respective role, though her performance is hardly Oscar material. Aside from the two performances, there is very little to this movie to recommend. The script by Sofia Coppola is well devised, but in a year with so many other great movies, I find it hard to accept that this was the best screenplay. On a sad note, the humor in "Lost in Translation" does not come from the actors or the script, but from mocking Japanese people and customs. I was not offended, but found it sad that this was the singular source of comic relief in a movie that was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread. The DVD package is pretty light on the extras, but what it provided is pretty good. The interview with Sofia Coppola and Bill Murray is well done, and you get an appreciation for the passion they put into this movie. The "Lost in Location" documentary is nice, but nothing overly interesting occurs. It is a run of the mill behind the scenes piece. Fans expecting something more extensive might be disappointed, since there is no commentary or any other substantial featurettes. I think this was released to cash in on the Oscar hype, so a special edition is likely in the near future. "Lost in Translation" works are a decent character drama, but not a great one. I guess it said more to some than others, but I expected a lot more from this movie. I found the acting to be superb, but the implausible story and unfunny attempts to inject humor through stereotype dragged this movie down for me. As in many cases, the hype did not deliver the payoff. Don't get me wrong ,this is not a bad movie. It is good, but nothing special.
Rating:
Summary: I thought it was great.
Review: As someone around the same age as Bill Murray's character, I think the movie had a greater impact. The feeling of isolation, the ennui, and other travails of one's middle years are all here. I liked the that the characters could develop a deep, intimate bond without jumping in the sack. It is refreashing to see a movie that can explore relationships with some real emotion.
Rating:
Summary: A positive and genuine emotional collision.........
Review: I truly enjoyed this movie. I took a different view of the movie. Bill Murray, is a 50 ish married man, and is trying to make some big money in Japan, unhappy with his nagging wife, he appears emotionally detached from his wife, she from him, and he meets this young lady, Scarlett Johansson. She is very attractive, 25 ish, young, and married, and not emotionally attached or detaching emotionally from her photographer husaband. Their relationship is anything but happy. They appear to be more opposite than connected. Both characters, Bill and Scarlett, meet, become friends, genuinely get along, and as friends feel a strong chemistry. Bill is attracted to her; she is attracted to him, but not sexually. They are deeper than the physical, the sexual. They connect on the emotional level; something, they both year for and do not get from their spouses. Bill's character can relate to Scarlett's in that, like her, he married young, thought about love, family, and in being happy. She also can relate, like him, she also looks to an experienced married person, who also, at one time, wanted what she now wants a spouse, family, career, and to be happy. Both characters nurture this moment's friendship, deeply. I truly enjoyed this movie. It bring about a far eastern culture, Japan, Americans and other foreigners in Japan, cultures meeting and interacting, careerism, family, detachment, old and the new, a very deep understanding of human emotions, and a returning point. Many thanks, Diego Rodriguez
Chicago, Il
Rating:
Summary: No story at all
Review: I was very disappointed in the movie. It had good reviews so I was expecting something special. I kept turning up the sound in an effort to hear what was being said. I would like to have turned on a few lights to see who was talking. There was no plot and no story line. The good part was you had a feeling of being in Tokyo. Bill Murray is always a favorite but this was his worst role.
Rating:
Summary: KINDRED SOULS
Review: the reason that i felt so connected with this film quite simply is that anyone who has ever been in a room with a 100 people and still felt that they were alone struck a responsive chord with me! LATER ON WHEN BOB HARRIS FINALLY CONNECTS WITH THE YOUNG WOMAN IT IS STAR CROSSED FROM THE GET GO! TO CONNECT WITH SOMEONE IN THIS WORLD IS RARE AND PRECIOUS AND TO KNOW FOR WHATEVER REASON IT WONT WORK IS HEART BREAKING .... THIS IS WHAT I TOOK AWAY FROM THIS FILM. MURRAYS GRASP OF THIS IS BRILLANT...
Rating:
Summary: HMMMMM disappointing
Review: Being a huge Bill Murray fan, and given the hoopla over this film at the Oscars, I decided to buy and view... Yuck. Depressing, over-stylized. Sure, still love Bill, but the subject matter lacked significant substance..
Rating:
Summary: not as good as it's "supposed" to be
Review: I read all the accolades for this movie, then I watchged it. I don't know why all the reviews say it's funny, because I didn't laugh once during the film, and wouldn't call it a comedy at all. Well, I DID find the lyrics to the song that was sung in the strip club (NOT a prostitute scebe, hich was stated in another review) were just plain silly, along with a goofy melody. On a side note, the strippers were old and ugly, and not representative of the true beauty of japanese women. As much as I loved Murray in "Ground Hog Day," I just am not excited by this film. Rent it first before deciding to buy. The DVD extra behind the scenes is nice, though and really shows how hard the cast/crew worked, along with some candid moments of Bill being Bill. I will agree with what one Japanese crew member said: Ms. Johansson and Ms. Coppola are "cool" and "yasashii."
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