Rating: 
Summary: some will enjoy, others may dose off
Review: I watched this with my fiance and a group of friends. While the film generated quite a few laughs, the general consensus was that it started off OK and dragged on at the end. I felt differently. I enjoyed the odd role played by Bill Murray and appreciated the performance of Scarlett Johannson. I suppose I also liked the film's international setting in Japan. The various scense from in and around Tokyo made for interesting viewing. I'm guessing that most people will rate this a 2 or 3, but for me it was a 3.5 or 4.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the most boring movies ever made
Review: I can sum it up for you: Two unlikeable, bored characters mope around a Tokyo hotel for a couple of days then go home. If you were expecting more than this then you are a shallow reviewer who mistakes ennui for profundity. You wait for something to happen but it never does. If you have seen the trailer you have seen all the funny parts, few they may be. If you are expecting a drama, there isn't any. Much has been made of Bill Murray's acting. Just as Al Pacino does haggard better than anyone, Bill Murray owns a lock on "hang dog". He just has to show up, look bored with the part, and bingo, Oscar nods. If you are the type who thinks the cliched long camera shot of the man sitting on the edge of his bed too depressed to get off it is the stuff of great theater, this is your movie. The characters could have ended their boredom easily. He could have quit cheating on his wife and gone home to play with the kids. She could get a job or volunteer for some worthwhile cause. No, they feel sorry for their sorry lives instead. Worse, they make us bored and that's the nepotistic director's fault. This is what Hollywood thinks is the stuff of life. Any wonder Hollywood thinks government is the answer to everything but censorship. Like American Beauty, this movie is a peek into the heart of incestuous Hollywood and it isn't pretty. As for Scarlet, frankly madam, I don't give a damn.
Rating: 
Summary: Again with the dreaming older men.
Review: First of all I actually did like this film, the charecters were interesting and Charlotte was so somber and sexy.BUT>>>>Who told Bill Murray that he is sexy???Why would she,Charlotte be attracted to him ? I guess the obvious being he was the only American around.Why no implication of a love making scene. The movie gives the viewer the impression that Charlotte was all for it but it was Bob Harris that abstained... Yeah right. A young girl crushes on an older,much older, guy and he is a complete gentleman. Sorry not believable.
Rating: 
Summary: Welcome surprise
Review: I was sceptical when I first heard that Sofia Coppola, the daughter of director Francis Ford Coppola, wanted to become a director. This seemed to be carrying even Hollywood nepotism way too far. I'm happy to say that Sofia Coppola completely overcame my scepticism with her first film: "The Virgin Suicides". Now, with "Lost in Translation" she's made a film so full of charm and observation that I just can't wait to see what she's going to do next. Although "Lost in Translation" stars Bill Murray, it's not one of his mainstream comedies but an - often humorous - offbeat love story, or friendship story, or lost soul story. It's the fact that you end up not quite sure which that is a major part of its charm. Sofia Coppola's script is fairly minimalist, leaving plenty of room for Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson to develop their characters' relationships through looks, gestures, moments of silence. And then there are the added complications. Murray's character Bob Harris is facing a mid-life crisis. Johanssen's Charlotte is in her early to mid-twenties. Both are married. Bob is a slightly over the hill actor who - he tells Charlotte - could be at home doing a play but is in Tokyo to do an ad for whisky for 2 million dollars. Charlotte is the wife of a fashion photographer (Giovanni Ribisi) who's in town to do a shoot. Charlotte's been married two years, and is beginning to think she doesn't really know who her husband is. Bob has been married for 25 years and it's a marriage that seems to exist for the sake of the children. During their cross world phone calls neither he nor his wife seem to be very open with one another emotionally. Both characters are jet-lagged and suffering from insomnia. In the early hours of the morning they find themselves sitting next to one another in the hotel bar, and they begin to get to know one another, something that probably would not have happened had they not been adrift, strangers in a strange land. And to them at least Tokyo is a strange land. Charlotte feels the alienation of the outsider. Bob's cultural collisions are somewhat more amusing. Some, most notably a session shooting photographs for the whiskey campaign, are ad-libbed by Murray and the Japanese cast. In another scene a Japanese prostitute sent to his room by his gracious hosts won't take no for an answer, and seems determined that he should lick her tights or lip her tights. It takes him a while to catch on. Film-makers sometimes don't do so well when they are visiting another culture. Even a mostly observant director like Wim Wenders can find him or herself coming over as a cultural tourist, as Wenders did in "Tokyo-Ga". Coppola and her cameraman Lance Accord, take us through a similar landscape, of pachinko parlours, video game arcades, and karaoke bars, but they're less overwhelmed with the environment and a bit more willing to draw satire from it. A Japanese character nicknamed Charlie Brown singing the Sex Pistols "God Save the Queen" in a karaoke bar, does - after all - have potentially humorous overtones. And the film's not any less satirical in its portrayal of many of the Western characters, including a Western lady jazz singer in the hotel bar, a Hollywood actress in Japan to promote an action movie in which she co-starred with Keanu Reeves, or even Bob himself. One encounter between Bob and the jazz singer, and its after-effects, are simultaneously stinging, funny and poignant. Bob stays in Tokyo a few extra days to appear on an absurd TV chat show. Charlotte is left alone as her husband leaves town for a shoot. They begin to hang out together. They begin to realise that despite the age difference, and their different places in life they are experiencing very similar self-doubts. And they like each other. A lot. But where are they going to go with it? I'm not going to give much of that away, but it's an extremely sensitive portrayal of a budding relationship between what is - in some ways only - an odd couple. Sofia Coppola's casting is inspired. The origin of the film was the city of Tokyo itself, which Coppola felt she wanted to put on screen, But once she'd decided that she began to look for characters and - from the beginning - had Murray in mind. In "Lost in Translation" Murray gives free rein to both his comic ability and his sensitivity. Cast opposite him, Scarlet Johansson is about five years younger than the character she's playing. She's not yet even twenty, but she is already more than able to suggest a level of complexity far beyond her years. Much the same statement also applies to director and screenwriter Sofia Coppola. Some have been sceptical about how someone so young could get into the head of a middle aged guy having a mid-life crisis. It doesn't surprise me so much. Coppola clearly possesses the art, insight and sensitivity to do it. And the only criticism I have about "Lost in Translation" is that it's all over way too fast.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time...
Review: ...reading the negative reviews. They're boring, trite and make you want to fall asleep. I don't know why some are so intimidated by this movie they find it deliberately arty or pretentious (while other negative reviewers find it too prosaic - can't please everyone). There's nothing complex about its approach at all. It's a simple story of emotional closeness well told.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Here's the good news. The majority of people who saw "Lost in Translation" DID get it. That's simply why it has earned so much praise and sold so well, not only here but worldwide. It's a not to be missed film.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant screenplay?
Review: I heard that this movie was really great from some friends, so I watched it, and it almost made me fall asleep. After reading some reviews on amazon here, I had a feeling of uneasiness. Does a movie really have to have such subtle themes that the majority of people watching the movie won't "get it?" Who cares about these small things? If the movie isn't interesting, then its not interesting. Period. No amount of background stuff can make up for not having a plot. Who cares what two random Americans in Japan are doing if its not interesting or unique? So they go drinking at a bar, meet eachother, sit around, drink more... and fall in love. So what? Who cares? It's not interesting to watch. Theres nothing special about this movie. It would be better if there was some sort of plot to follow. Arbitrary scenes chucked together don't make the greatest plot... The only real thing to follow is the chronological time sequence. Even then, that doesn't make the movie good. Don't waste your time by seeing this movie.
Rating:
Summary: To Each Her/His Own
Review: WOW there are a suprising number of people who truly destested this film - suprising because I REALLY enjoyed it. I do have to say that the portrayal of Japanese people was for the most part very much playing off of the stereotypes (which is the only reason that I didn't give it a 5-star rating). Aside from that BIG issue that I had with the film, I will echo the sentiments of several before me: the movie is not about the plot - it is about the atmosphere and tone. But unlike others before me, I did not find it in the least trying to hard to be a nose-in-the-air, pretentious and overly ambitious "art" film. It felt very natural and human. I was blown away most of all by Scarlett Johannson - a truly special performance. This brings me to what I see as a horrible and really unfathomable flaw in the DVD. While they have several extras including a 30 minutes "behind the scenes" documentary and a moderately lengthy interview with Murray and Coppela, THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO COMMENTARY ON OR WITH JOHANNSON. It really makes me wonder what REALLY went on behind the scenes. Her performance was as good if not better than Murray's and yet he is the sole focus of everything. I would like to say it was a terrible oversight, but it is such a blatant omission that it really made me feel that they totally cheated her and that there was some bad blood there or something. The documentary had (from my recollection) only two shots of her: one as she was coming onto the set and a long shot of she and Murray eating sushi. There was also a clip of someone involved with the movie raving about her. In the interviews, the people involved raved about the director, the videographer, the technical "thing-thanger", but not Johannson who was only THE STAR OF THE MOVIE! It truly was an incredible slap in the face. So nutshell version: Incredible movie. Unforgivable and cheap stereotyping. Beautiful acting and characters with a horrendously underappreciated Scarlett Johannson in a stand out performance. Oh well - she will leave them in the dust as her career progresses. Oh and GREAT SOUNDTRACK! ...and lastly: the ending (whispering)was PERFECT. Where they could have stuck in some cheesy-ass "Goodbye, fair love" speech that could easily have ruined the end, they leave it up to the viewer to trust that whatever was said was the right thing to say; magical in a way that no true words would satisfy either the characters (see how happy they are afterwards), or the audience's expectations. It was beautifully done and made my heart jump. Again - perfect.
Rating:
Summary: Weird reviews
Review: Looking at one particularly bizarre review here I have to say that some people's way of looking at this charming little film is so very strange First, the characters DO go out and explore and enjoy Tokyo and Japan, (Charlotte does anyway, Bob is mostly caught up in work) but they ARE carrying within them their own sadnesses and jetlag. This is not a hard thing to see in the film. Neither are either of them remotely describable as "ugly Americans". They are puzzled by an alien culture, but neither of them puts that puzzlement down to the other culture's fault. Charlotte in particular would clearly like to know the place around her better. Shown particularly clearly in the Japanese wedding scene. And they phone home to reawaken contacts with old friends, NOT to complain about anything that is happening to them in Tokyo. Charlotte is not upset with Tokyo. She's upset with her husband. Bob is dealing with strains within his marriage. So yes, they meet, both jetlagged and sleepless in the middle of the night. The ranting reviewer has failed to point out that there are plenty of "white faces" around in the hotel but these two spot kindred spirits in each other. And they'd actually RATHER explore the city and the people together than hang out with any of the Americans. And neither of them does refer to Tokyo as a "miserable hell". That's all in the writer's own "mind". Pinning all the marvellous complex relationship issues in this film down to a dislike of the "alien" is evidence of a chip on one's own shoulder. Some reviews are autobiography. Not about the movie at all. The spectacle of a girl standing and watching her boyfriend playing a music video game is hardly specific to Japan (as anyone who has a PS2 will know). And yes, it does look weird, unless you are actually the one doing the playing. I've seen it in other places than Tokyo. These guitar, drum, dance, video games can be encountered in many parts of the world you know. In America we might also film people gazing mindlessly at a TV set to show the same kind of concentration (and to what end). In the karaoke scene, no one implies that Bob or Charlotte can sing any better than the locals or show them how to do it. Everyone has fun with it in their own way. And if you HAVE ever experienced karaoke (which has - incidentally - again spread worldwide from Japan) you'll know it's not about the quality of the singing anyway but the enjoyment. To put this scene down as the "arrogance" of Americans shows that chip on the shoulder yet again. EVERYONE is enjoying themselves here, until Bob and Charlotte's jetlag finally does catch up with them. The film makes fun of the weird things that the Japanese do, but it also makes fun of the weird things Americans do in a foreign country. And this apparently has gone right over more than one reviewer's head. And the humor in the movie is invariably affectionate. Unlike some of the bitter comments here on Amazon. It isn't about being American, Japanese, or any other nationality, if I had written a review as full of idiocy and as self-revealing as that one, THEN I would have been so ashamed.
Rating:
Summary: Obviously not for everyone...
Review: Some movies can withstand the expectations that come with great reviews. This one apparently cannot. It probably helps if you can relate to one of the two main characters...both physically and emotionally in a place they'd rather not be. If you can, you will likely enjoy this movie immensely. Probably even more if you've spent time in Japan. For myself this is easily one of the best movies I have ever seen.
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