It's hard to put into words what to say about this film, since it lays everything so bluntly out in full view, and I'm not saying this in a bad way, I respect the hell out of a movie that can really be this obvious and still penetrate the soul so deeply. Bob Harris and Charlotte have at least two things in common: they're both terrible directionless and spinning out of control, and they're lonely. Not just any kind of lonely: the kind of lonely where you can be in one of the world's biggest cities in crowds of people and feel just as lonely as if you were living in the deepest, darkest cave on Earth. A depressive, bland loneliness where nothing you say or do matters, it's all the same, whether it's trying to get your husband to stop working for a minute and have a little bit of interest in you, or you're choosing carpeting for your home office space. So, Bob and Charlotte enter each other's lives and yeah, I think there's definitely some Manic Pixie fantasy nonsense here for sure (on both parties I may add), but it's this strange sort of fantasy where it twists the knife into married life slowly while also at the same time somehow convincing you it just may be the best thing in the world. Interestingly, I find Bob and Charlotte connected more as the best friends each of them were missing, rather than strictly romantic partners, and I think it was a great decision to not turn them into strictly cheating adulterers. As a result, the empathy and emotion you feel between the highs and lows come across a lot stronger overall. It's less, "oh I hate my married life" and more "I want to feel like what it is to have fun again", shifting the focus in a more positive and relatable direction.
With that said, there's definitely no better to have said fun than in Tokyo, which is rendered gorgeously in this film. I want so desperately to be Charlotte sitting on her windowsill looking out at that sprawling city, so inviting yet so chaotic too. I like all the touches of Japanese culture, like karaoke and obsession with media, though it was getting a bit too comfortable with the more-than-slightly racist Japanese jokes (a product of its time, I suppose?). Despite this, I did still think the film was decently funny, Murray and Johansson are amazing together and they're were several fun sight gags like Bob holding that plush in the hospital waiting room.
Again, the film tends to speak for itself, and it's confident and steadfast in its message. It's just two people, each going through they're own transitive period as they figure themselves out, and no matter the age or what they do, it's a bit of soul-searching we all need to do sometimes, and we may even find it in the most unlikely of places. It's not a film I totally loved, the pacing can sometimes feel off and the Japanese culture jabs feel dated, but still, it's one where its themes and characters are something you cannot just ignore, especially in the often samey rom-com genre.