LOST IN TRANSLATION (2003) ** "Life is very complex, and no one gets it. Don't settle for things that aren't what you want." That's not an actual quote from the film, but if you didn't know, now you do and so you don't have to watch the movie. Bill Murray's career has come full circle, except that it's not quite full or a circle: at first they wouldn't give him "meaningful" roles because he was considered a comic, then they realized that he's a versatile actor, and now they're giving him roles that are supposed to be profound but aren't even funny. Other than maybe seeing something in the script, it's not his fault. His character is well portrayed and believable. It's just all more than a little bit like watching slides of a friend's vacation that didn't go well, and the friend's still taking it all too seriously and focusing on why he went in the first place. Scarlett Johansson does a nice job, too, and Sofia Coppola shoots Tokyo at a frenetic pace that ensures that no one with a brain in their head would ever want to go there (might save you the slide presentation anyway). It's wrong to say that it's a bad film, but difficult to get around the fact that they were shooting at something big, and missed by so much that you can't even figure out what it is. Even more fatal that you don't care. Meaningful and revealing, perhaps even cathartic, for viewers who always wondered what Bill would be like at karaoke (when he's tired), and those fascinated by what others do when they can't sleep or think of anything else that might be fun.
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