Rating: R
Genre:
Comedy Drama
Theatrical Release: 09/12/2003(USA
Release Date: 02/03/2004
SubTitles: Espanol/French
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: DD5.1/DTS
Run Time: 102 Minutes
Flags: Nudity, Sexual Situations
Distributor/Studio: Universal Studios
After making a striking directorial debut with her screen adaptation of
The Virgin Suicides,
Sofia Coppola offers a story of love and friendship blooming under unlikely circumstances in this
comedy drama.
Bob Harris (
Bill Murray) is a well-known American actor whose career has gone into a tailspin; needing work, he takes a very large fee to appear in a commercial for Japanese whiskey to be shot in Tokyo. Feeling no small degree of culture shock in Japan,
Bob spends most of his non-working hours at his hotel, where he meets
Charlotte (
Scarlett Johansson) at the bar. Twentysomething
Charlotte is married to
John (
Giovanni Ribisi), a successful photographer who is in Tokyo on an assignment, leaving her to while away her time while he works. Beyond their shared bemusement and confusion with the sights and sounds of contemporary Tokyo,
Bob and
Charlotte share a similar dissatisfaction with their lives; the spark has gone out of
Bob's marriage, and he's become disillusioned with his career. Meanwhile,
Charlotte is puzzled with how much
John has changed in their two years of marriage, while she's been unable to launch a creative career of her own.
Bob and
Charlotte become fast friends, and as they explore Tokyo, they begin to wonder if their sudden friendship might be growing into something more.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide