A good film, but not great – mostly by the casting of Murray in the lead. From what I’ve read, making the film was a labor of love for Murray. He is very charming in the movie, and I think his acting was okay, however, I never bought into the idea of him being the character. Possibly because Murray, to me, has a very modern/contemporary style from the way he delivers his lines to even his physical presence. I haven’t read the book or seen the original film, so I may be wrong, but so many of his scenes felt borderline improv, or at least reworked with him in mind. It created a detach for me from the gorgeous ‘20s setting and plot, and I was unable to ever fully immerse myself in the film. I thought the actress playing Sophie was incredibly good, but the actress playing Isabel was hit and miss – I felt that the film was trying to keep her from being too unlikeable, but she’s a very unlikeable character if you look at her actions. Like the previous reviewer, I was also let down by the ending of the film, more because I thought Murray came off as more unaffected by what had happened, rather than being accepting of his life which is what I think they were going for.

I watched The Razor’s Edge with a friend over the weekend. It’s the story of a somewhat shallow guy who acts as an ambulance driver in WWI, is shocked by the experience, and finds his life dramatically altered. He is unable to continue on the path waiting for him when he gets back home, and goes off to find the meaning of life.

The movie has flaws. There are several points in the film where I wasn’t sure exactly what was going on – motivations were not clear or well-developed. I plan to read the book, which I’m hoping will be better.

Nevertheless, the cast was very good. I find Bill Murray a fascinating actor, and his job here is quite good. If you liked him in Broken Flowers or Steve Zissou, you should like this. There are also fine performances by Catherine Hicks (who currently plays Mrs. Camden in Seventh Heaven), Theresa Russell, and Denholm Elliott.

My friend found the ending unsatisfying – she wanted to know what happened to everyone, and didn’t feel that the lead character showed much change after going on his quest for meaning. I disagree, though; I feel like it was a pretty realistic picture of what can happen on such a quest. Definitely worth the watch, for me.