Lost in Translation

Universal Home Entertainment | Release Date: September 12, 2003

7.5	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 795 Ratings

USER RATING DISTRIBUTION

Watch Now

Stream On

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Review this movie

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Please sign in or create an account before writing a review.

Check box if your review contains spoilers

0 characters (5000 max)

User Reviews

User score By date Most helpful

JohnAJul 2, 2009

lost in translation is one of those movies that makes a person feel good for watching it. most of its viewers love its small "Anti Hollywood" feel, but BELIEVE me, aside from being a respectable piece of art (at best), lost in translation lost in translation is one of those movies that makes a person feel good for watching it. most of its viewers love its small "Anti Hollywood" feel, but BELIEVE me, aside from being a respectable piece of art (at best), lost in translation really doesnt offer much more to its viewers then that nice little indie feel. the problem with the movie is that there isnt enough character development involved. at no point did i as a viewer have a specific feeling for anyone in the movie because theres really not enough that i knew about them as people. its hard to say this movie does much more then offer the occasional chuckle. the characters are too distant to be relatable so of course when they say something funny it feels like a sad attempt to be witty. im not asking that every movie have characters that i can identify with, but its really important that at some point in a movie the audience member has a see where the character is coming from. this movie is beautifully acted. the only problem is that they play roles of people that no one really wants to see. these are 2 very distant people who eventually come together to make sense of it all, but its hard to think that the director does a very good job in showing the audience any of that. at no point later on in the movie are these characters really more developed then they were to begin with. for what its worth the movie did have a small amount of its dry humor, but in NO WAY is this movie a comedy. (NO SPOILERS AHEAD....) the ending is much different from the rest of the film and just for a second the audience gets a little piece of emotion. and you really see the characters for who they are. problem is the entire rest of the movie never set us up for such an ending. nobody wants a romantic happy ending garbage heap, but this movie was just so fixated on trying to be real that it just ended up being boring. as a viewer i felt that i was finally given the ending only because the director knew its what i wanted to see, and NoT because it was the actual direction the movie was meant to take. life doesnt always have a clear cut road and there arent always yes or no answers. this movie tries so hard to convey that message, but from actor to audience, somewhere in between the message seems to have been Lost in Translation.… Expand

3 of 5 users found this helpful

DaveDec 28, 2009

Definitely overrated by the critics. The humor is rather crass, and much of it stems from ignorance/intolerance of other cultures.

5 of 14 users found this helpful

HalfwelshmanJul 22, 2012

Lost in Translation is thoroughly disappointing. It appears to be pretty much universally praised, yet it's a flawed film. I'll concede that it's beautifully filmed, that Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson give great performances and that theLost in Translation is thoroughly disappointing. It appears to be pretty much universally praised, yet it's a flawed film. I'll concede that it's beautifully filmed, that Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson give great performances and that the relationship between their two characters is sweet and endearing, as a tale of two lost souls finding a connection is always compelling. Despite these positives, the film puts forward an extremely patronising, stereotypical and borderline racist view of Japanese culture. By depicting a steady procession of carefully cherry-picked Japanese "oddities", it's almost like the film's main objective is to say "hey, come laugh at the silly Japanese, they're not like Americans at all". A recurring joke in the film is the mockery of Japanese speech pattern of the replacement of the letter r with the letter l. This gag is barely funny the first time it is used, but it is reprised four or five times throughout the film. In one of the key "comedy" scenes, Murray's character struggles to understand a heavily accented Japanese director during a photo shoot, and his mimicry of the poor man's voice to decipher each instruction isn't funny, just embarrassing, akin to the lack of logic behind an English-speaking tourist abroad raising his voice to make themselves understood to non-English speakers. To make matters even worse, the film is all-too-often slow or just plain boring. Beyond great chemistry between Murray and Johansson and striking aesthetics, the appeal of Lost in Translation is, well, lost in translation chiefly thanks to some criminal cultural insensitivity that really shouldn't be applauded in the modern world.… Expand

2 of 6 users found this helpful24

All this user's reviews

DelPieroRUSJul 16, 2011

I don't like this movie. After 10 minutes it is already obviously what will be in the end. Very boring story... It's not deserve even average 6,6 score, which it have now from users.

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

All this user's reviews

ReubenIsAGodApr 22, 2016

for me, "Lost in Translation" falls flat. Its such a nice little story about a deep loving friendship between to people where they find what they want in life out of their deep connection. I personally believe that it is a powerful movie, butfor me, "Lost in Translation" falls flat. Its such a nice little story about a deep loving friendship between to people where they find what they want in life out of their deep connection. I personally believe that it is a powerful movie, but it is VERY slow and at times drags, and overall the message at the end feels rather hollow, yet somehow rewarding like real life. ha.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

All this user's reviews

JamieP.Jun 17, 2007

Coppola's idea is really great. too bad it was not presented in a good way. you cannot miss the fact that this movie is boring and overrated.

0 of 1 users found this helpful

gracjanskiJan 6, 2021

Somehow I didnt like the movie: Many scenes with Japaneses were rude and unrealistic, yes I ve been in Japan for some weeks. In my view this movie is a insult to their incredible beautiful mentality. Bob is a very unsympathetic and cynicalSomehow I didnt like the movie: Many scenes with Japaneses were rude and unrealistic, yes I ve been in Japan for some weeks. In my view this movie is a insult to their incredible beautiful mentality. Bob is a very unsympathetic and cynical character with some good sense of humour. Indeed there was a beautiful chemistry with Charlotte and Scarlett Johanson was charming. But overall the mood was bad and boring. Also there ist not much story, you can write it in one sentence. So the mood of the movie is interesting, but still I dont want to see this movie again.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

All this user's reviews

AJ_13Mar 7, 2021

This film feels so real and charming. Performances are great, but you could say its a bit simple movie.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

All this user's reviews