The Ramen Girl (2009)

The Ramen Girl (2008) Director: Robert Allan Ackerman Watched: 8/15/18 Rating: 6/10 "I don't understand!" Both Abby/Sensei repeat; Far-fetched plot with holes. Ditzy girl seeks path, Learns Ramen via abuse And subtitled yells? Weak/useless side plots; Mindful of Japanese ways, But awkward/cliched. Tis no "Tampopo", Ramen is a MacGuffin. Has no "tamashii". But for logic, a fun time- Brittany's a pleasure to watch! Haiku Sonnets are comprised of 4 3-line haiku plus a couplet of either 5 or 7 syllables, adding up to 14 lines, the same number of lines found in a sonnet. (5-7-5, 5-7-5, 5-7-5, 5-7-5, 7-7/5-5) #HaikuSonnet #PoemReview #Food #Japanese #Mentoring #Remake

I found this film rather different because, it's set in Japan and we get to see the places,language, people, etc. Of course, Brittany Murphy ( RIP ) being the only American girl throughout the whole movie and trying to understand what the Japanese people around her are saying! Honestly, I thought it was rather annoying to not have the subtitles included on this. You can know by their expressions or tone of voice of what's happening and you still don't bloody know what they are talking about! I would've loved to have known what they were truly saying. Anyways I love the fact that Murphy's character found true love again by a wonderful Japanese man. I say, we wish we could have someone like that to make our lives simple, right ladies? HahaI really like this film, it really opens up on what Japanese culture is about. I have to warn you, if you badly need subtitles and you're not good at Japanese, don't panic if you don't know what's happening. I've been there! Just enjoy watching it and it might be a good experience for you!

Abby (Brittany Murphy) follows her boyfriend Ethan to Tokyo but he leaves her for a job in Osaka. He also doesn't promise to come back for her because he's the nomadic kind. She has a dull job and speaks little Japanese. She becomes fascinated with the corner ramen shop and begs angry drunk chef Maezumi to teach her the art of cooking ramen. He yells at her a lot and gives her all the dirty jobs.This could have been better. Brittany Murphy is delightful and full of life. Maezumi is very angry. It's a little too off-putting. He needs to dial it down a little. The Japanese boyfriend is too light-weight. He has little chemistry with Murphy. I rather she ends up with the chubby guy. The production is a little lacking and the movie does need more fun magic.

Warning: This will contain spoilers!After watching this movie, my summarized impression of it is Karate Kid, but replace the karate with ramen-making and you'll be halfway there. The first 90% of the movie was pretty excellent, and extraordinarily touching; I found myself crying or laughing on several occasions, which is something I normally don't do while watching movies. This movie, to paraphrase sensei, has spirit. Unfortunately, it gets bogged down by several flaws that render my 4 score.My biggest issue with the movie, was not the ending, but shortly before (SPOILER ALERT!!!) when Sensei takes Abby to see his mother. Why do they all understand each other all of a sudden? Is it the spirit of Ramen?Another thing that really bothered me was the pacing. It was superb up until the previous scene, and then after that it seemed like the director/editors realized "oh well the end" and that was that. Very anti-climactic, if you will. (SPOILER) I think the movie would have made so much more sense had they taken the thread of Abby's Magic Tears and ran with it; instead, they strangled it, squashed it, and essentially made it useless.Overall, it was a very feel-good movie, which was bogged down by either poor writing, directing, or editing. While I did watch the shorter 108 minute American edit, I will try and hunt down the European one and see if perhaps if can assuage the bad taste I have. This movie had so much potential, and I would hate to have seen it wasted.