Writer! Director! Actor! Dave Boyle should be forced to watch his movie for the same amount of collective hours his viewers have wasted on it. Perhaps then he might realize the folly of his vanity.
Very rarely do I feel such anger towards a creative person, but director Dave Boyle - and his movie - suffer from conceit to such a degree that this movie is up there with John Cusack's "War Inc." and Grosse Point Blank", as well as Garden State (by The Guy From That TV Show). Boyle also wrote/directed, screaming "look at me! You have to! Because I'm always on screen!" There is a decided lack of dramatic tension with these kind of cutout characters, as they can never do wrong. However, Boyle is further lacking even Cusack's charm/appeal.
One gets the feeling that the movie *is* true-to-life in a way, that someone told this guy "Wow, dude, you speak Japanese well" and, like his character, he believed it and got Mommy and Daddy to fund yet another failed venture, this time a movie. Now we know why the bookshop owner has the sign on his door.
Actually, we really *don't*. We don't know a few other things as well.
1. If the bookstore owner doesn't like Boyle's character (I forget the name already), why doesn't he simply stop selling his book? Why did he accept it in the first place? If the bookstore owner is selling the thing on commission, isn't Boyle's character undercutting *himself* (i.e. shouldn't he go to stores where they're *not* selling his book)? What led to him putting up that sign? How was the girlfriend able to take down that sign?
2. Why is Boyle's character (supposedly) so good at Japanese? If the character's great Japanese skills are such an integral part of the movie, why do we not hear any more of them after the beginning? Wouldn't it be more interesting to find out *why* he is so interested in Japanese culture? Uh, shouldn't he move to or at least work in Japan?(It's worth noting at this point that Boyle himself has never traveled to Japan). Is he overly ambitious with all his companies or just an idiot (of course language learners want a native speaker teacher)? And if he's an idiot, *why* should we care about him? He's not lovable or charming in any way.
3. What about the best friend? Is he Japanese or American (even *he* doesn't seem to know)? If he's American, he's a native speaker of English (and thus qualified to teach low-level classes), isn't he? But if he's American, why does he slurp his noodles in exaggerated Japanese fashion? Wouldn't it make more sense (and be funnier) if Boyle's wannabe Japanese character did so?
4. How about the Japanese girlfriend? As anyone who has lived in Japan knows, the appeal of foreign guys in Japan is that they're *foreign*. Are we really supposed to believe this girl has traveled to America all the way from Japan only to settle for this weak version of a typical Japanese guy? Aren't there millions of more successful, interesting, truly Japanese guys *in Japan*?
5. Another flaw in the plot, such as it is: Why does Boyle's character suddenly leave the translation meeting at the very last minute? Wouldn't this damage *both* relationships (he's already late for his meeting with the girlfriend but it's acceptable as it's work and he would forfeit the pay and damage his reputation as a translator by running away)?
6. Again, *why* should we be interested in this guy? He's a bit strange, but we don't know anything about *why* he's strange. There is absolutely no character development throughout the movie so, besides us not knowing anything about his origins, he doesn't grow or learn. The big payoff is what: that he has students being taught poorly by his friend? That he failed even to get those students, that his girlfriend got them for him?
And so on. Is *that* the intended message of this movie: just wander through life, get your father to pay for your poorly-thought-through ventures and get your mommy / girlfriend to make everything all right for you by doing all the work? (I won't speculate as to whether "producer" Meg Boyle is any relation). Dave Boyle, I know you're reading this as you most likely wrote the bogus positive reviews below* ("I will watch for his name in the future!" indeed!) If you *must* make another movie, please think hard about what you want to say and how you want to say it next time. This tripe was insulting and irritating.
* How odd. Though the comments section for this movie was dormant for two years, one day after I wrote this review, another "fan" of the movie pops up. Who would be checking these comments frequently, I wonder? Initially, I gave this a 4 as it was at least watchable, I was forced by the sakura (Japanese for shill, hired applauder, etc.) to lower this to 0 to offset the high scores.
Very rarely do I feel such anger towards a creative person, but director Dave Boyle - and his movie - suffer from conceit to such a degree that this movie is up there with John Cusack's "War Inc." and Grosse Point Blank", as well as Garden State (by The Guy From That TV Show). Boyle also wrote/directed, screaming "look at me! You have to! Because I'm always on screen!" There is a decided lack of dramatic tension with these kind of cutout characters, as they can never do wrong. However, Boyle is further lacking even Cusack's charm/appeal.
One gets the feeling that the movie *is* true-to-life in a way, that someone told this guy "Wow, dude, you speak Japanese well" and, like his character, he believed it and got Mommy and Daddy to fund yet another failed venture, this time a movie. Now we know why the bookshop owner has the sign on his door.
Actually, we really *don't*. We don't know a few other things as well.
1. If the bookstore owner doesn't like Boyle's character (I forget the name already), why doesn't he simply stop selling his book? Why did he accept it in the first place? If the bookstore owner is selling the thing on commission, isn't Boyle's character undercutting *himself* (i.e. shouldn't he go to stores where they're *not* selling his book)? What led to him putting up that sign? How was the girlfriend able to take down that sign?
2. Why is Boyle's character (supposedly) so good at Japanese? If the character's great Japanese skills are such an integral part of the movie, why do we not hear any more of them after the beginning? Wouldn't it be more interesting to find out *why* he is so interested in Japanese culture? Uh, shouldn't he move to or at least work in Japan?(It's worth noting at this point that Boyle himself has never traveled to Japan). Is he overly ambitious with all his companies or just an idiot (of course language learners want a native speaker teacher)? And if he's an idiot, *why* should we care about him? He's not lovable or charming in any way.
3. What about the best friend? Is he Japanese or American (even *he* doesn't seem to know)? If he's American, he's a native speaker of English (and thus qualified to teach low-level classes), isn't he? But if he's American, why does he slurp his noodles in exaggerated Japanese fashion? Wouldn't it make more sense (and be funnier) if Boyle's wannabe Japanese character did so?
4. How about the Japanese girlfriend? As anyone who has lived in Japan knows, the appeal of foreign guys in Japan is that they're *foreign*. Are we really supposed to believe this girl has traveled to America all the way from Japan only to settle for this weak version of a typical Japanese guy? Aren't there millions of more successful, interesting, truly Japanese guys *in Japan*?
5. Another flaw in the plot, such as it is: Why does Boyle's character suddenly leave the translation meeting at the very last minute? Wouldn't this damage *both* relationships (he's already late for his meeting with the girlfriend but it's acceptable as it's work and he would forfeit the pay and damage his reputation as a translator by running away)?
6. Again, *why* should we be interested in this guy? He's a bit strange, but we don't know anything about *why* he's strange. There is absolutely no character development throughout the movie so, besides us not knowing anything about his origins, he doesn't grow or learn. The big payoff is what: that he has students being taught poorly by his friend? That he failed even to get those students, that his girlfriend got them for him?
And so on. Is *that* the intended message of this movie: just wander through life, get your father to pay for your poorly-thought-through ventures and get your mommy / girlfriend to make everything all right for you by doing all the work? (I won't speculate as to whether "producer" Meg Boyle is any relation). Dave Boyle, I know you're reading this as you most likely wrote the bogus positive reviews below* ("I will watch for his name in the future!" indeed!) If you *must* make another movie, please think hard about what you want to say and how you want to say it next time. This tripe was insulting and irritating.
* How odd. Though the comments section for this movie was dormant for two years, one day after I wrote this review, another "fan" of the movie pops up. Who would be checking these comments frequently, I wonder? Initially, I gave this a 4 as it was at least watchable, I was forced by the sakura (Japanese for shill, hired applauder, etc.) to lower this to 0 to offset the high scores.