Broken Flowers (2005)

The first Jarmusch movie I watched was Night on Earth. It was more baffling that good, but not terrible enough to hate it. Then I saw the truly terrible Dead Man and that almost did it for me.Then Broken Flowers came out and I decided to watch it, mostly for Bill Murray. And am I glad I did.Most people expect road movies to depict some sort of internal realization or life changing discovery by the main character. As in "I didn't know who I really was until I crossed the Mexican desert high on peyote". It was time somebody did a really good road movie that remained anchored to Earth.Jarmusch' previous ones are this kind of road movie but fail to make any point clearly, or maybe it's me who failed to see it. Not the case with Broken Flowers. Bill Murray's tired, bored man embarks on an unlikely trip to find the son he never met (at least that's what a letter from an anonymous former lover tells him). He does not find him, and while his late actions seem to show he may have changed a bit, it's not clear what the future holds for him. And that makes this is a better -actually a great- movie. No, a road trip cannot take anybody back in time. Not all plots have to wrap up tidily at the ending, just like many real life issues remain unsolved, in continuous flow during our real lives. What's done is done and what you don't know now, you probably never will. But that's not an excuse for inaction.If Broken Flowers has a message, it might be "try and see what happens". The goal may be unrealistic and thus you will not achieve it. But taking the trip may present you with new opportunities you hadn't seen before. At the end of the movie, Murray stands at a crossroad, the camera revolving around him from all possible directions: we don't know which one he will take, and he probably doesn't himself. But before he took the trip, he didn't even know these directions existed.

Don Johnston (Bill Murray) is a bit of a Don Juan although he doesn't like the comparison. He made a small fortune in computer and lives in isolation in his home watching old movies. His girlfriend Sherry (Julie Delpy) leaves him. A letter arrives from a former lover with news of a teen son approaching 19. His neighbor and friend Winston (Jeffrey Wright) is an amateur sleuth and plans out an excursion to track down his former lovers. Laura (Sharon Stone) has flirtatious daughter Lolita (Alexis Dziena). Dora (Frances Conroy) is married to stuffy Ron (Christopher McDonald). Carmen (Jessica Lange) has an assistant (Chloë Sevigny) in a pet therapist business. Penny (Tilda Swinton) has biker friends.Bill Murray is more deadpan than usual in this one. It's in addition to Jim Jarmusch's minimalist style. It is very much his style and for fans of his work. The tone is not broadly comedic. There are sporadic chuckles but it's not enough for me to like. It's a little too quiet in this quietly funny film.

Even though Bill Murray was in this, I think serious roles don't suit him as an actor. We all know him from being funny but, I think this is a let down for him. I think he would've been better off if he was retired earlier or even better, help out with the crew developing the film. I just thought he would benefit from being on "behind the scenes". The role should've at least gone to someone else. Someone who would do a better job than Murray. I am disappointed, I really like Bill Murray but, I just think he didn't do it enough to be a better "Don Johnson"!Avoid watching this!

The Plot. As the extremely withdrawn Don Johnston is dumped by his latest woman, he receives an anonymous letter from a former lover informing him that he has a son who may be looking for him. A freelance sleuth neighbor moves Don to embark on a cross-country search for his old flames in search of answers.What's with the good reviews? This movie is not only pointless, it's an insult to anyone's intelligence. The story is dumb and everyone acts as if they are stoned and have no emotion.The writing is horrible.Bill Murray is supposed to be a former internet hot shot but he cake walks through this role like he's asleep. One of the few times i can say i was bored silly by his performance.I bet he agreed to this trash just so he could bang all the women in it.