h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Here we have Murray at his best - lost, out of control, reacting to external pressure, effectively recreating a similar role in Lost in Translation. It was a strange film, clearly deserving its Golden Globe but unsatifying for some reason. Perhaps I just did not feel any empathy with Murray's character, finding him shallow, self-centred, remote and unlikeable. As that was the key to the whole plot the film must have worked but I will not be rushing to buy the DVD.

Thanks for the entry

Regards

Phil

I was utterly bemused by "Broken Flowers" - and I've yet to see "Lost in Translation".

I loved Bill in Groundhog Day and Ghostbusters. Deadpan yet funny. I couldn't empathise with the character in Broken Flowers at all. The "Lolita" scene was completely unnecessary I thought - and it would have been funny if it had been viewed from behind her and Bill's expression had registered shock.

Oh well, I'm a writer not a director, so I'll leave them to their art.

Just by the way, there's a discussion thread here:
F19585?thread=496680&post=25194529#p25194529 with lots of backlog, sorry, all sorts of peeps discussing the films they've just seen. Feel free to read the backlog and if you wish to carry on a discussion click on their name and you can post at their Personal Space. You won't have to look back far to find the discussion on Broken Flowers

I've yet to see Broken Flowers, but since this thread popped into my conversation list, I've begun to fix that problem.

I read a fair few reviews of the film and most of them were positive. But when it came to actual people that had seen it, the positive comments tended to taper off.

I'll be able to form my own opinion soon enough, hopefully.

I've actually seen it and I loved it.

Me again - Broken Flowers is a very good film. Superb photography, a classic road movie. Watch out for the recurring theme of an approaching truck in every in car shot. I just couldn't relate to Murray's character which is the whole point. He is alone, self absorbed, isolated, incapable of forming lasting relationships. Broken Flowers is not a comedy like Ghostbusters or Groundhog Day - Murray has moved on. I think he fancies being the next Jack Nicholson which is a shame. He isn't and he won't be.
Phil

Couldn't agree more, Phil.
Bill now reminds me of Paul Merton from Have I Got News For You - or Jack Dee.

"He is alone, self absorbed, isolated, incapable of forming lasting relationships."


*****SPOILER ALERT******

























































I didn't see it as a film about that at all. His girlfriend left him because he didn't want children. Then he gets a letter on pink paper claiming to be about a child from a past relationship. If he really didn't want children then he wouldn't have gone looking. The fact that he did shows that deep down he was prepared to be a father, and each encounter moves this forward. In fact by the end he seems very disappointed. Then he gets another letter, also on pink paper, from the original girlfriend, asking if they can meet up.

That letter, for me, solves the mystery of who sent him the first one. There never was a son. It was a test set by his girlfriend who didn't want to lose him, but needed to know if there was any point in staying.

I think it's a film about the emotions men feel about fatherhood.

Sorry. Didn't like it. Don't get me wrong, it was well made. I just found it a bit dull.