I watched this movie after Anthony Bourdain mentioned it in the Hokkaido episode of "No Reservations." The film wants to be "Lost in Translation" meets "Tampopo," but it just isn't.
Not to speak ill of the departed, but one must wonder about why Brittany Murphy has such enormous bags under her eyes throughout the film. Her performance is neither the highlight of her career nor the film. Although these "American makes good in XXX foreign country" usually portrays the foreign country and its people in a poor light, actually, in this case, it's the pathetic American girl who looks ridiculous and the Japanese that look righteous.
On the acting side, the same thing is true. Murphy, the American boyfriend for whom she moves to Tokyo, his friends, including the flamboyant Englishman and Tammy Blanchard as the American hostess/escort, all of them seem out of place and for the most part, pointless. However, the Japanese actors (including a cameo by "Tampopo" star Tsutomu Yamazaki) pull off the gags and the tears, helping to make the last third of the movie quite decent.
The film should have taken its own advice -- instead of trying to be Murphy's Goddess Ramen, a melange of ramen with tomato, corn and peppers, it should have played it straight and stuck to time-honored practices of good acting, directing and writing to create a harmonious story that leaves the viewer satisfied, but wanting even more.