Review of The Ramen Girl (2008) by Nicole R — 01 Sep 2009

Happiness is a hot bowl of authentic handmade ramen. That said, there's also instant ramen, which can have palatable if not mindblowing flavor and texture or can just be limp noodles in an oily styrofoam cup.

Either way, you get immediate gratification, but rarely any lasting satisfaction. So it is with The Ramen Girl. There was whimsy, there was a fish out of water story, there was a master/student relationship, there was even an honest earnestness to Abby and Maezumi's lost in translation interactions.

But Abby's journey and epiphany have been substituted by too many artificial ingredients. Maezumi's mom was right, Abby (and the whole movie) had too much noise going on in the head and not enough quiet reflection going on in the heart.

And I guess that's the difference between a likeable movie and a great movie, just as it's the difference between instant and fresh ramen.