Movie Review: Memoirs of a Geisha

In a "Will & Grace" scene set in a movie theater lobby, Will is standing around when Taye Diggs comes out of a theater at the end of a movie.

Will: Did you just see "Memoirs of a Geisha"?
Taye Diggs: Are all these people walking out going, "Eh"?

M-N just finished the book, so we watched the movie. Apparently, in the book, there are major differences. In fact, I think, in the book the lead role is played by a woman who is actually Japanese, not Chinese.

Like many bad book-to-film adaptations, "Geisha" tries to hard to include everything from the book (which it can never do) and add elements to make it more "cinematic" (which here come off as tired cliches). Worst of all, I was left feeling like the life of a Geisha:

A) Isn't all that bad
B) Isn't all the great
C) Is just, well, eh.

They didn't even manage to make the geishas alluring. Everything just felt rushed, mechanical, and dull.

Maybe if the book wasn't written by a white, American man from Tennessee and directed by a white, American man from Wisconsin, it might have at least had some authenticity to it, instead of dripping with stereotypes. Not stereotypes of Japanese culture, but stereotypes of how movies are supposed to go, old stereotypes, with the too evil to be real villain, too good to be true knight in shining armor, and 'everything will turn out just perfectly for the heroine' theme.

Eh.