The Ramen Girl (2008)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Robert Allan Ackerman

Writer:

Becca Topol (writer)

Release Date:

23 October 2008 (Russia)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

In food as in life, sometimes the missing ingredient is love.

Plot:

An American woman is stranded in Tokyo after breaking up with her boyfriend. Searching for direction in life, she trains to be a râmen chef under a tyrannical Japanese master. |

Plot Keywords:

Asian Man White Woman Relationship

Cast

Brittany Murphy	...	Abby
Toshiyuki Nishida	...	Maezumi
Tammy Blanchard	...	Gretchen
Sohee Park	...	Toshi Iwamoto
Kimiko Yo	...	Reiko
Renji Ishibashi	...	Udagawa
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Maria Abe	...	Asami
Justin Berti	...	N. Y. Waiter
Daniel Evans	...	Charlie
Masayoshi Haneda	...	Yuki
Judai Ikeshita	...	Depressed Businessman
Sonya Inge	...	N.Y. Waitress
Hajime Inoue	...	Tak
Mai Ishikawa	...	Elf #2
Takanobu Kaneko	...	Udagawa's Son
Man Kato	...	Office Manager
Tomoyuki Kuramoto	...	College Student #2
Hideki Kurauchi	...	Merchant #1
Ken Maeda	...	Harumi
Ken Maeda	...	Harumi
Masayuki Maekawa	...	Street Vendor
Gabriel Mann	...	Ethan
Tiffany Martin	...	Assistant Cook
Shôichirô Masumoto
Kaori Momoi	...	Mama-san
Akiko Monou	...	Mio
Shu Nakajima	...	Merchant #3
Kazumi Nakamura	...	(voice)
Masayoshi Nogami	...	Merchant #2
Yutaka Oda	...	Kendo Master
Takako Ogasawara	...	Elf #1
Yuya Ogawa	...	College Student #1
Hikari Okada	...	Maezumi's Mother
Rei Okamoto	...	Midori
Edward L. Papazian	...	N.Y. customer
Naoki Saito	...	Kenichi
Cho Sonha	...	Ueno
Shinji Suzuki	...	Temple Angel
Daisuke Takahashi	...	Tomu
Kazuya Takahashi	...	Street Entertainer
Nitta Tanabe	...	Harumi's Colleague
Justin Tyler	...	Restaurant Goer
Takaki Uda	...	Akira
Hako Ueno	...	Hanako
Tsutomu Yamazaki	...	Grand Master

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content.

Runtime:

Germany:122 min (European Film Market)

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Jacksonville, Florida, USA

Company:

Media 8 Entertainment

ignore the user votes, this movie was actually fun to watch

I gave this movie a fair 7/10. I would ignore the nonsensical 1/10 and 10/10 ratings and give it a fair shake if you're into Japanese food and culture. I was pretty surprised at how they portrayed Japanese culture...not totally accurate, but not a travesty either. I also wouldn't consider this to be a remake of Tampopo -- totally different characters and story lines. But it was fun seeing the main cowboy hat-wearing guy from Tampopo doing a small role as the ramen grand master. His expressions and eating reactions were hilarious! The filmmakers obviously have a love of japan and its culture, and I can feel their sincerity in sharing this joy through this movie. This movie isn't perfect by a longshot (the whole subplot with the British guy and the southern girl was useless and irritating), but there were some genuinely fun and funny moments. Keep your expectations in check and just enjoy the movie for what it is.